LIFE OF FREDERICK 
COURTENAY SELOUS, D.S.O. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland. 3 vols. 
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Uncoloured Plates by the Author, and from Photographs. 

Volume II, Order Carnivora {cottiinueii) and Order Rodentia. 
With 21 Photogravures by the Author, H. GkOnvold, G. E. Lodge, 
and from Photographs by D. English ; 19 Coloured Plates by 
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Newfoundland and its Untrodden Ways. Willi 2 Maps, 
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The Wildfowler in Scotland. With a Frontispiece in 
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Rhododendrons, in which is set forth an account of all 
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and the various Hybrids. By J. G. Millais, F.Z.S., 
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LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 

LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS. 




Phalo: J Russell & Sons. 



Frederick Courtenay Selous. D.S.O., 

Captain 25th ROYAL FUSILIERS. 
Killed In Action, January 4th. 1917. 



LIFE OF FREDERICK 
COURTENAY SELOUS, D.S.O 

CAPT. 25TH ROYAL FUSILIERS 



J. G. MILLAIS, F.Z.S. 

Author of 

"Rhododendrons,'' "The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland," 

"The Wild Fowler in Scotland," " Newfoundland and its Untrodden Ways," 

"The Natural History of the British Surface-Feeding Ducks," 

" British Diving Ducks," etc. 



WITH 14 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR 
AND 2 PORTRAITS 



SECOND IMPRESSION 



NEW YORK: 

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO 

FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET 
1919 






1^5 



^5LT 



Jc 



'^ 



PREFACE 

IN preparing the life of my friend, Fred Selous, I have 
to thank his brother Edmund, and his sister Mrs. 
Jones (Ann Selous) for contributions regarding his 
parents and early hfe. I am also indebted to his friends. 
Sir Alfred Pease, Captain P. B. Vanderbyl and Mr. Heatley 
Noble for certain notes with regard to short expeditions 
made in his company. Mr. Abel Chapman, a life-long 
friend, has also assisted me with numerous letters which 
are of interest. But most of all have I to thank Mrs. Selous, 
who from the first has given me every assistance in furnishing 
details of her husband's adventurous life, and allowed me 
to read and extract from the numerous letters he wrote to 
different members of his family during a considerable part 
of his life. Selous had many friends, but none evinced a 
more keen understanding of his life and work than Colonel 
Theodore Roosevelt, Ex-President of the United States, 
and I 'feel grateful to him for the attention he has given to 
the following pages and the use he has allowed me to make 
of his numerous letters. 

The Author has also to thank Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 
and Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co. for the use they 
allowed him to make of two of Selous' works, namely, A 
Hunter's Wanderings and Travel and Adventure in S.E. 
Africa. He is much indebted to their kindness in this 
matter, since they give in the hunter's own words accurate 

details of his life. 

J. G. MILLAIS, 

Compton's Brow, Horsham. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

1851-1865 

Ancient and modern heroes — The character of Selous — The Selous 
family — Edmund Selous' notes — An artistic and ancient race — 
Selous' parents — Family life — Selous' father — Some of his 
reminiscences — His mother — His uncles — Selous' childhood in 
London — Early schooldays — Selous' own story of his youth — 
His first battle — Youthful adventures — His athletic prowess — 
Life at Belton ...... Page i 

CHAPTER II 

1865-1870 

He enters Rugby — Love of books of travel — Life at Rugby — 
Rugby football in the old days — " Butler's leap " — Excur- 
sions in Natural History — Adventures out of bounds — The 
Pilton Range episode— Raid on the Heronry at Coombe Abbey — 
A cold swim — Unjust treatment — Wanderings with the rifle — • 
Chased by the keeper — Mr. Boughton Leigh's broad-mindedness 
— The ice accident at Regent's Park — The panic — A narrow escape 
— Canon Wilson's recollections of Selous as a schoolboy — 
" WiUiamson's " duck — Neuchatel — Wiesbaden — His friend Col- 
chester — A row with the forester — He flies to Salzburg — Butter- 
fly collecting — Chamois hunting — The Franco-German War — Its 
unpopularity in Austria — His estimate of the German character — 
Visit to Vienna — Back in England . . . .29 

CHAPTER III 

1871-1875 

The influence of literature — Books on Africa — Thomas Baines — 
Baldwin— Selous lands in Africa — Leaves Port Ehzabeth — 
Sport on the road— Arrival at Kimberley — A short expedition 
into Griqu aland — Starts for the north — His companions — The 
first giraffe hunt — Lost in the bush — An unenviable position — 
Loses his horse — Reaches safety — His first hons — Meeting with 
Lobengula — The Matabele king's humour — Cigar — Elephant 
hunters — Piet Jacobs — William Finaughty — His hfe as an 
elepha,nt hunter — Selous kills his first elephants — Cigar's good 
qualities — Selous remains in Matabeleland — Joins Wood in an 
elephant hunt — A great day — A fatal accident — The Dett 
valley — Elephant hunting — Charged by a cow — A narrow 
escape — A doubly loaded elephant gun — Further adventures 
wath elephants — Return to Bulawayo — Game in the Dett valley 
—Selous goes north to the Zambesi — \''isit to the Chobe — Begins 
his collection of trophies — Adventures with buffaloes — Abund- 
ance of game — His first lion — A savage charge — Arrives at Tati 65 



viii THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

CHAPTER IV 

1876-1878 

Lands again at Algoa Bay — Reaches Matabeleland — Kills a fine 
lion — George Westbeech — -Return to the Diamond Fields — 
Loses a fine lion — The comparative danger of hunting various 
wild animals — Views of experienced hunters — Adventures with 
buffaloes — Goes north to the Zambesi — Hunting in the Chobe 
delta — Sepopo's elephant drives — A charging buffalo — Selous' 
horse killed by a buffalo — Further adventures with buffaloes — 
Their speed and cunning — A depressing outlook — Visit to the 
Zambesi — Portuguese misrule — The Kafukwe country — An un- 
healthy region — Illness of Owen and Selous — Restored to 
health — Elephant hunting on the Hanyane river — Clarkson and 
Wood — The death of Quabeet — A vicious cow — Nearly crushed 
— Kills a lioness — -Plans for the future . . Pa^e 



CHAPTER V 

I 879-1 880 

Intends to visit the Mashukulumbwe countrjr — Expedition into the 
northern Kalahari — The Botletlie river — Adventure with lions — - 
The difficulties of the Thirstland — ^The Mababe flats — Oxen nearly 
exhausted — Finds water — Kills two lionesses and two fine lions — 
Hunting on the Linyanti and Chobe — The death of French — • 
Sick with fever — Causes of the Zulu War — The magnanimity of 
the Zulus — Selous' visit to Cetewayo — The story of John Dunn — - 
McLeod of McLeod — ^The Swazi king's reasoning — Selous' 
views on the Zulu War — Sir Godfrey Lagden — Selous again goes 
to Matabeleland — J. S. Jameson, some details of his life — 
Expedition to Mashunaland — Return to England — Causes of the 
first Boer War — Selous' first book — Slaughter of game in South 
Africa — The ethics of Big Game himting 



CHAPTER VI 



Return to South Africa — Intends to be an ostrich farmer — Goes 
north again — The snake-stone — Collecting specimens of big 
game and butterflies — A bold lioness — Visit to Khama — Lion 
attacks the camp — Death of the lion — Laer's narrow escape — ■ 
Kills a leopard — Reaches the Zambesi — Goes south and then 
returns to Mashunaland — The Manyami plateau — A savage 
leopard — Adventure with a lion — The hippopotamus row — A 
poor outlook — Visit to the Mababe — A man-eating lion — Return 
to Bulawayo — The white rhinoceros — A wonderful herd of 
elephants — A great day spoiled by a sulky horse — Frequently 
charged by elephants — A savage cow — Curious magnanimity to 
a horse — Liechtenstein's Hartebeest — A gallant sable antelope — 
Havoc amongst the dogs — Danger from woimded sable and roan 
antelopes ....... 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS ix 

CHAPTER VII 

i886-i88g 
Expedition to Mashunaland with Messrs. Jameson, Fountaine and 
Cooper — A serious accident — Sets out for Barotsiland — Arrival 
at Wankie's — Extortion by the Baton ga chiefs — Monzi — The 
Mashukulumbwe — Into the jaws of death — Attack on Selous' 
camp — Selous escapes south — Pursuit by the natives — Lucky 
meeting with a Wildebeest — His rifle stolen — Nearly shot — 
Reaches Monzi's village — A dangerous position — Marancinyan — 
Suspicious friendship — Moves south with guides— Meets some 
of his men — Their adventures — Reaches Panda- ma-tenka — 
Sikabenga's treachery — Crosses the Zambesi again — Wanderings 
in Barotsiland — Return to Bamangwato . . Page 157 

CHAPTER VIII 

I 889-1 892 
Expedition to the Mazoe river — Reaches Tete — The extortions of 
Maziwa — Mapping the new country — Discovery of Mt. Hampden 
— Trouble with the Portuguese — The importance of Mashunaland 
to Great Britain — Selous' scheme of occupation — Rhodes' plans — 
Lobengula and Cecil Rhodes — The Charter of the British South 
African Company — Selous' proposed road — The pioneer expedi- 
tion starts — The cutting of the road — Lobengula's ultimatum — 
The road complete from TuU to Salisbury — Treaties with local 
chiefs — The Odzi road — The Portuguese attack Massi-Kessi — 
A fiasco — A night with lions — Visits the Pung^ve district — -A 
great game country — Progress in the new country — Leaves 
South Africa — The Hartley Hills lion — An unfortunate niiss- 
fire — A gallant foe — Death of the lion — Lion hunters — The 
brothers Hill — Methods of hunting — Sir Alfred Pease — Selous' 
writings — The Government neglect of science — The jealousy 
and poverty of scientific societies — America's good example — 
The miserable treatment of African explorers — Selous and Rhodes 
— The rewards of hard work — The pioneer's only monument . 172 

CHAPTER IX 
1893-1896" 
Cupid at work — Engagement to Miss Maddy — Intends to visit 
America — Trouble in Matabeleland — History of Matabele raids 
— -The position in 1893 — Hunters enter Matabeleland — Selous 
returns to South Africa — Joins Col. Goold-Adams' column — 
PreUminary fights — Selous wounded — The first battle — The 
Matabele retreat north — Disaster to Major Wilson's column — 
Selous' prophecy — Return to England — Marriage — Honeymoon 
on the Danube and in Asia Minor — Hunting in the mountains of 
Asia Minor — Leaves again for Mashunaland — Essexvale — The 
new Bulawayo — The cloud of trouble — The UmUmo — ^The rising 
of the natives — The defence force — Col. Johan Colenbrander — 
Driven from Essexvale — Isolated engagements — The fight on 
the Umguzra — Selous surrounded — His horse runs away — His 
life saved by Capt. Windley — A narrow escape — -Work on the 
main road — Arrival of Sir H. Plumer — Mr. Labouchere's views 
of the second Matabele War — The future of S. Rhodesia — The 
difficulties of farming there — Markets too distant — Selous 
attacked by Labouchere — Messrs. Rowland Ward and Co. — 
Their kindness to Selous — The Nyala — Expedition to the Pongolo 
and Usutu rivers — An unhealthy country — Return to England 197 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



CHAPTER X 

1896-1907 

Selous' restlessness and love of travel — Roosevelt on the charms of 
travel — Criticism of travel books — Selous as an egg collector — 
Second visit to Asia Minor — Short excursions at home — Goes 
with his wiie to the Rockies — Wapiti hunting — Roosevelt on 
past and present hunting in N. America — Hunting chamois in 
Transylvania — Selous on the second Boer War — An Imperialist, 
but always fair — His sorrow as to the causes of the war — 
Personal knowledge of the Boers — An honourable foe — Their 
ignorance and good qualities — Selous' views on their unjust 
treatment — Letter to the ' ' Speaker ' ' — Roosevelt on the Boers — 
Birds '-nesting on the Danube — Hunting moose in Canada — New- 
foundland caribou hunting on the railway — A poor sport — Goes 
into the interior-^Too late for the migration — Second visit to 
Newfoundland — A successful expedition — Third visit to Asia 
Mnor — First expedition to East Africa — A big game paradise — 
Birds '-nesting at home— First expedition to Alaska — Visit to the 
Ogilvy Mountains — Up the North Fork of the MacMillan — Kills 
a bull moose— Osborn's caribou — A great moose — Bad weather 
— Third trip to Newfoundland — A wet season — King George IVth 
Lake — A bad year for heads .... Page 224. 

CHAPTER XI 

1906-1907 

A visit to Bosnia — Second expedition to Alaska — Down the Yukon — 
Up the South Fork of the MacMillan^ — Caribou, wolf and moose 
hunting — His sympathetic nature — Account of the MacMillan 
trip — Again visits Asia Minor — Financial depression — Arthur 
Neumann — Some details of his life — Reindeer hunting in Norway 
African nature notes and reminiscenccs^Letters from President 
Roosevelt ....... 257 

CHAPTER XII 

1908-1913 

Roosevelt's expedition to Africa — Selous' arrangements — Selous 
joins Roosevelt at Naples — Goes to the Northern Gwas N'yiro 
with MacMillan — Fails to obtain lions — ^Accident to Mr. Williams 
— Selous at Vienna — Warburton Pike — Expedition to the Bahr- 
el-Ghazal — Goes to Tembera — Phil Oberlander — Killed by a 
buffalo — Some stories of Oberlander — Selous' hunt for the 
Giant Elands — A hard trip — Illness and rapid recovery — Third 
expedition to East Africa — Judd's adventure with a honess — 
Roosevelt on African hunting — Physical hmitations — Selous' 
last buffalo — A gallant foe — Elani his Somali nearly killed — 
DisHke of crowds — Visit to the Channel Islands — Roosevelt on the 
early Normans — Heatley Noble on Selous — ^Their expedition 
to Iceland— Selous' imperturbabiUty — His powers as a climber — 
Selous' idea of a good dinner — Selous on his Icelandic trip — 
Yearnings for Africa — Young Fred Selous — A true son of his 
father — His atliletic prowess — An excellent airman — His un- 
timely death , . . , . , . 267 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS xi 



CHAPTER XIII 

1914-1915 

Visit to Texel Island^ — Intends to make expedition to the Bahr-el- 
Ghazal — Frustrated by the war— Selous' patriotism — Efforts 
to serve — Lord Kitchener thinks him " too old " — Col. Driscoll 
and the War Office — At last taken for service in East Africa — 
Selous' account of the capture of Bukoba — Letter to Heatley 
Noble — The position in East Africa in 1915 — Letters to the 
author — German ascendancy — The Indian Government forces — 
Precarious position of the British forces — Intends to publish 
his experiences — Roosevelt's letters — German thoroughness — 
Roosevelt anxious for America to join the Allies — Letters to 
the author on the difficulties of the campaign — Unfortunate 
mistakes— The Munyamwesi — Wonderful fighters — ^Advance to 
Kihmanjaro — General Smuts in command— Description of the 
advance — A deadly climate in the wet season — Returns home for 
an operation — Again leaves for the front . . Page 299 

CHAPTER XIV 

SEPTEMBER, I916-I9I7 

The last journey — Arrival at Tanga — German East Africa in 191 6 — 
The difficulties of the campaign — Progress by General Smuts — ■ 
The Royal Fusiliers go to Mikesse — A fearful march — General 
Smuts on the action at Beho-Beho — Selous' gallantry — His death 
at the head of his men — A noble life — Captain Haines on the 
last days of Selous — Selous' grave — General Smuts on the future 
of German East Africa ..... 340 



CHAPTER XV 

CHARACTER, APPEARANCE, ETC. SOME STORIES OF HIM 

Untiring energy as a hunter — His modest requirements — Rifles — A 
story of his practical nature — Sir Alfred Pease on Selous as a 
hunter and naturalist — The average of shots required in various 
lands — Selous as a hunter — His love of the shot-gun — Per- 
severance to excel — The Brocklehursts — A lover of cricket — 
Bicycling — The triumph of physical fitness — His personal 
magnetism- — Memory — Powers as a story-teller — diffidence — 
Inclined to melancholy — ^The spring of perennial youth — The 
force of heredity — Slatin Pasha's estimation of Col. Marchand — 
Selous' opinion of Marchand — Powers of speech — His independ- 
ence of thought and action — Literary gifts — Kindness of heart- 
Hatred of crowds — The perpetual call of the wild — Home- 
sickness — The nostalgia of travel — ^A great reader — His prefer- 
ences in literature — Personal friends — Hospitality at home — 
Lewanika's fears — His attitude towards reUgion — Roosevelt on 
Selous — Selous' great influence as a pioneer — A noble life and a 
fitting end ....... 352 



IN-DEX ........ 377 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Frederick Courtenay Selous at the age of 59 

The Plains of the Orange Free State in 1871 

Selous as a Young Man, in Hunting Costume 

Elephants .... 

Buffaloes Alarmed 

On the Mashuna Plateau 

The Battle of the Strong 

Lions Chasing a Koodoo Bull 

The Wandering Minstrel 

Osborn's Caribou . . 

Mt. KJENIA FROM THE SoUTH 

Bull Moose about to lie down 

Mt. Kilimanjaro from the North 

A Shot on the Plains, British East Africa 

Faru ! Faru ! . 

They cannot break his Sleep 



Frontispiece 

TO FACE PAGE 

64 



80 

112 

144; 

176 
192 ^ 

224 

240 

256 

2721.. 

288 

304 ' 
320 ' 

336 
368 \t 



THE LIFE OF 

FREDERICK COURTENAY 

SELOUS, D.S.O. 



CHAPTER I 

1851-1865 

MEN of all ages are apt to set up for themselves 
heroes. It is their instinct to worship exceptional 
force of character and to follow a leader ; but as 
we survey the tempest of human suffering we are now more 
apt to wonder if there are any great men left in the world 
and think that perhaps, after all, we have made a mistake in 
putting on pedestals the heroes of the past ; for tried in the 
light of the present day they would, perchance, not have 
proved heroes at all. The cynic may even sneer at this 
lovable trait in human nature and affect to place all men in 
a commonplace ratio, but then it is easier to be a cynic 
than a man of faith. Nevertheless, Humanity must have 
something to trust, to acclaim and admire, and so millions 
of all ages cling to their worship of the hero, even though 
he may wear top hat and trousers. There will always 
be great men amongst the mass of pygmies, though many 
say the age of hero-worship has gone — doubtless swamped 
in the scale of colossal events. Still, if the great men of the 
past were not as large as they seemed, the little men of to- 
day may be greater, in spite of the fact that the chief actors 
in the modern drama of life are nations and not individuals. 
But what constitutes a great man will ever be the result 



2 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

of individual opinion. In Russia to-day millions, perhaps, 
think Lenin and Trotsky are demi-gods, whilst an equal 
number call them traitors and would prefer to see them 
hanged. To us, perhaps, the belief that Right will triumph 
over wrong, and the man who in simple faith gives up all 
that is sweet and pleasant to serve his country in the most 
fearful strife the world has ever seen, is the embodiment 
of heroism. There are tens of thousands of men who have 
done the same as Frederick Selous and none are less heroes 
than he ; each and all of them are as much entitled to 
their pedestal of fame, although they may not have ex- 
hibited the mind that influences for years in many lands. 
They have all counted the cost and endured the sacrifice, 
and they do not talk about their inner thoughts. This, to 
our minds, is true heroism. 

So in studying the life of one Enghshman, great in the 
sense that everything he did was big, honourable, clever, 
and brave, we shall reaUze how character is formed in the 
iron mill of experience, how a man unhelped by wealth 
or social advantages and gifted only with exceptional 
talents in a line, mainly unprofitable in a worldly sense, 
came to win through the difficulties and dangers of a more 
than usually strenuous life and reach the haven of com- 
pleted work. Selous was a type of Englishman of which 
we are justly proud. His very independence of character 
and impatience of restraint when once he knew a thing 
was right was perhaps his greatest asset. He knew what 
he wanted to do and did it even if it resulted, as it did on 
one occasion, in his personal unpopularity. It was this 
fearless striving towards the Light and constant love of 
what was beautiful in Nature, that forced him into Litera- 
ture, so that others might see with his eyes the things that 
he thought were best. And thus he rose and became a 
type and an influence in our national life, and in time swayed 
the lives of others. 

The Selous family were originally French Huguenots, who 
settled in Jersey after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
Annoyance at being turned out of France caused Gideon 
Slous to omit the " e " from the surname, but later this 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 3 

was re-adopted by his son Frederick Lokes Selous, father 
of Frederick Courtenay. Of the character of his parents 
and uncles Edmund Selous kindly sends me the following 
notes : — 

"... I can only say generally, that my father was a 
man of high and varied talents and very high character, of 
French, or at any rate, Jersey descent, and that he started 
with nothing in life, and with only such education (beyond 
what he owed to his mother, an uncommon woman, who 
probably did better for him) as an ordinary private school 
had afforded, equipped himself with French and Italian 
in perfection, entered the Stock Exchange at an early age, 
had a successful career there, and rose to be Chairman of 
its Committee. He was a fine whist and chess player (more 
especially, or more notedly, the latter) and was reputed, I 
believe, at one time, to be the best amateur player of the 
clarionet. Music was his constant and greatest delight, but 
his pen was also an instrument which (though he sought no 
public beyond his friends) he often used very entertainingly. 
He was a brilliant — often a witty — talker, with a distinc- 
tion of manner, more French- than English-seeming in 
its light debonairness, and his individualities, traits, foibles, 
etc., were so many and vivid, that to write either of him or 
of Dr. Johnson with scanted pen, would be much the same 
thing. My two uncles, the artist and dramatist, who lived 
next door, on each side of us, would also require portraiture 
for anything beyond this bare statement. Both were out- 
of-the-canvas-stepping personalities, carrying with them 
atmosphere and aroma. 

" My mother was an exceptionally thoughtful and broad-, 
minded woman — more advanced, on most subjects, than 
where they stand now — a vivid and vital being, of great 
vivacity, gladness (that never was levity) and conversa- 
tional powers, with a gift for the interchange of ideas 
(which is not, by any means, always the same thing). She 
was also a poet, as her little volume of collected pieces, 
' Words without Music ' (a modest title) testifies, at least 
to myself. She had joyous ' L' Allegro '-like country in- 
stincts, a deep inborn love of the beauties of nature (which 



4 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

she sketched charmingly), and great feeling for, and interest 
in both plant and animal life. I underline that word, in 
its last connection, because killing was quite another thing 
for her, and her whole soul shrank away from it. But of 
course, as you know, what, in root and origin, may be the 
same, is often differentiated in the sexes, and so inherited 
by each. It was, I think, undoubtedly through our mother 
(though he did not, personally, much resemble either parent) 
that my brother inherited everything that made him dis- 
tinctively himself. By this I mean that though much and 
that the best — as, for instance, his patriotism and love of 
truth — may have come to him from both sides, and some 
from the other only, it was that one that gave to it, and 
the whole, its original life-shaping turn. The whole was 
included in the blood of the Bruces of Clackmannan, repre- 
sentative, I believe, of the elder branch of the family that 
gave Robert Bruce to the throne of Scotland, but what 
exact position, in our family tree, is occupied by Bruce, 
the Abyssinian explorer, I do not quite know. However, 
he must have been some sort of ancestor of my brother, 
and Bruce, since the intermingHng, has been a family 
name, though not given to any of us surviving infancy, 
owing to an idea which had arisen, through several 
instances of such association, that it had become unlucky. 
In this regard, it has been rather the patronymic, which, 
from one war to another, has borne the malevolent influence. 
None have come back, either wounded, invalided or at all. 
All killed outright — but this by the way. Had it not been 
for my mother, therefore, my brother, in all probabiUty, 
would either never, or not in any preponderating degree, 
have felt the ' caU of the wild,' for my father not only never 
felt it, but never was able to comprehend the feeling. There 
was, in fact, nothing at all in him of what was my brother's 
life and being. He was, in the proper evolutionary sense 
of the word, essentially a civilized man and a Londoner. 
Sport was, for him, an unknown (and much disliked) 
quantity, and though taking, in an air-tight-compartment 
sort of way, some interest in insects, he had not much about 
him of the real naturalist. Those feelings (imperishably 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 5 

summed up by Jack London in the title of his masterpiece) 
which, coming out of a remote past, beckon back the only 
supposedly or but half-made-up civilized amongst us, from 
late into early conditions, were not, as I say, his heritage ; 
and this was equally (or even more) the case with his 
brothers — my two uncles — and as far as I know or have 
ever heard, all the precedent members of the family, I 
believe, therefore, that by the intervention — merciful or 
otherwise — of the Bruce, Sherborn, and Holgate families, 
between them, my brother was saved, or debarred, from 
going either into the Stock Exchange or one of the settled 
professions. Which kind of phraseology best suits the con- 
juncture I know not, but I think I know what my brother's 
own opinion would be, since it put the particular circum- 
stances of that event of his life, in which, of all others, he 
would esteem himself most happy and fortunate — I mean 
his death — upon a footing of certainty. 

" I have alluded to my brother's independence of homie 
(or, I think, of any) influence. I look upon him as a salient 
illustration of Darwin's finding that the force of heredity 
is stronger, in the individual, than that of education and 
surroundings. So far back as I can remember — at least 
with any distinctness — he was always just himself, with a 
settled determination that, in its calm, unobtrusive force 
(giving the idea of inevitability) had in it something ele- 
mental. He may not have lisped Africa (which was far 
from the family thoughts) but, if not, he, at least, came so 
near to it, as to have made us all almost remember that he 
did. He seems to have brought with him into this world 
' from afar,' a mind long made up as to the part he should 
play in it, and his career was more than half run before any 
circumstance admitted by him as deflective from its true 
course, arose. ..." 

Mrs. Jones (Ann Selous) also paints a pleasing picture of 
the early life of the family in their London house : — 

" We lived in Gloucester Road, Regent's Park, in a house 
my father built for himself. At that time there were no 
other houses near, but all fields between his home and Prim- 



6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

rose Hill, some way off ; but this superior state of things 
his children never knew. Our uncles, my father's brothers, 
lived on either side of us. My father was vice-Chairman of 
the Stock Exchange for five years, and Chairman for three, 
until a very serious illness obliged him to resign and give 
up everything in the way of work. He was a fine chess 
player, his name is to be seen in the games amongst those of 
the great players of the day. He was also a very fine clarionet 
player, which instrument he taught himself when very young, 
and I well remember his beautiful tone, far beyond that of 
Lazarus, the chief professional player of the day, who no 
doubt sacrificed tone to technique. Whenever there was a 
speech to be made my father was equal to the occasion, 
having great fluency and humour and real wit. He was a 
delightful talker and his memory was a store-house of 
knowledge and recollections that he could draw upon when- 
ever required. He was a very genial and admirable host, 
very high-spirited and excitable. He could never forget 
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when the Huguenots, 
his forebears, were driven from France. ' They turned us 
out ! They turned us out ! ' he used to say to my mother, 
a real thought of bitterness to him. His greatest pleasure 
and relaxation was a walking-tour in Switzerland, a land he 
specially loved. He had often been there with one or other 
of his brothers, or with his great friend Baron Bramwell, 
the famous judge. These trips must have been ideal, my 
father and his brothers having in themselves everything 
that was necessary to make them gifted in all the arts, and 
so appreciative of nature and everything else, and with their 
lively sense of humour and wide interests they were able 
to extract the most from all they might chance upon in 
their travels, those being the days before tourists flooded 
the country and huge hotels swamped the more interesting 
inns. My father loved the busy life of the City, and had no 
country tastes such as farming or hunting, but he delighted 
in the life by the river — in canoeing, specially — and in a 
farmer's country home in the Isle of Wight, where, when we 
were children, we spent the summers. He was a fine swim- 
mer and would swim out with one or other of us on his 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 7 

back. I well remember his energy, mental and physical, 
were remarkable. The loss of sight seemed only to affect 
his later years. His mind was clear and equal to dealing 
with his affairs to the last. At a very advanced age he had 
started tricycling and delighted in it. I think my father 
and my brother Fred were very dissimilar in character, 
interests and tastes. There was no ' call of the wild ' in my 
father — nor, I think, in my mother, except through her 
imagination. My father left a few reminiscences which were 
never finished, as dictation tired him — he was then over 
eighty and blind. They are full of interesting memories 
which end unfortunately when he was still very young." 

" I was born," writes my father, "on the 9th of March, 
1802. ... I was a precocious child, for I was told that I knew 
my letters at about two years of age, and could read at three 
and a half and recite on a table at about four. I perfectly 
recollect declaiming the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius 
in Shakespeare's ' Julius Csesar.' Also I remember the an- 
nouncement of the death of Nelson in October, 1805, and 
witnessing his funeral procession in January, 1806.^ I was 
perched on the shoulders of a journeyman baker named 
Guesnel at the corner of Poland Street, from whence I 
beheld the catafalque containing the remains of the illus- 
trious Nelson, the whole affair resembling much the inter- 
ment of the Duke of WelUngton, which I witnessed in 1852 
— forty-six years later. My brother Harry (the artist, 
H. C. Selous), who was thirteen months younger than I, 
remembers witnessing this spectacle too. ... I can recol- 
lect weeping bitterly at hearing the first news of our great 
admiral's death, and the awe and wonder with which I 
looked upon the ceremony of his interment. ... I was sent 
to school at Islington at the age of seven, and upon the 
master desiring me to read from a book which he gave to 
me he expressed himself so surprised at my reading that he 
told my mother he would not put me into any of the reading 
classes of the upper boys, as I should put them to shame. 

^ The body was sent home in a cask of brandy which was said to have 
been partially drunk by the sailors. This gruesome theft was known as 
" tapping the admiral." 



8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

I was at that time so strong and so hungry that I frequently 
carried some of the biggest boys round the playground 
(which was a large one) for an extra slice of bread and butter 
with which they repaid me. I was at school about a twelve- 
month and then came under my mother's care for instruc- 
tion, and to her I owe more than I can possibly express 
with regard to my early education. She taught me the 
French language, Greek and Roman history, and the 
three R's — reading, writing, and arithmetic. When I was 
ten years, I was sent to a school called the Burlington school, 
where I improved my French, became a tolerable Latin 
scholar, and gained a smattering of mathematics. After 
being for two years at this academy, I was recalled to 
home rule and education and never had any further in- 
struction from master or professor. At this time my 
brother and myself were allowed to wander about the streets 
uncontrolled and might have been considered as a sort of 
street Arabs, though we always selected our associates 
carefully." (Later on my father had to work very hard, 
very long hours, up till midnight four days in the week, 
but it did him no harm, and he was very strong and active. 
A great part of his time was occupied in reading every 
variety of book he could get hold of, from which he gained 
much general information, having an unusuallygood memory. 
Plutarch's lives were his first admired works. Pope, Addison 
and Johnson came next. He made the acquaintance of 
some of the celebrated Italian singers and learnt to speak 
their language fluently. All this part about the Italian 
singers is very interesting, and many things connected with 
the theatre likewise.) 

" I also witnessed another performance which shocked 
me more than anything I ever beheld, for I was then very 
young. It was in 1815 or 16, I think, I happened to be 
rather early one day in my long walk to Great St. Helen's, 
which took me past St. Sepulchre's and the broad opening 
to the narrow streets of the Old Bailey. The sun was 
shining brightly across Newgate, and on chancing to look 
towards Ludgate Hill I saw dangling to a beam at the 
west side of Newgate five human beings suspended by the 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 9 

neck. One of them was a woman, who with a feehng for 
symmetry had been hung in the centre. All five had white 
night-caps drawn over their faces to conceal the horrible 
convulsions of the features. I don't know what their 
crimes had been, people were hanged in those savage days for 
stealing a shilling, or even cutting a stick from a plantation. 
The time appointed for cutting down the bodies had nearly 
arrived, and the crowd had diminished to an apathetic 
group principally engaged in cracking nuts and jokes, and 
eating brandy balls all hot ; but horror gave speed to my 
steps and I soon left hideous Newgate behind me. I recol- 
lect a great sensation caused by the execution of Fauntleroy 
for forgery." Here end these notes by my father. 

" I think I remember rightly that at fourteen my father 
was not only making a livelihood for himself, but supporting 
his father and mother. He was most charitable and had 
the kindest heart in the world, and that high sense of 
honour which so distinguished his son. I think that though 
these few extracts from his reminiscences are not, perhaps, 
of importance, yet they throw some hght on my father's 
character, and indirectly it may be on my brother's also, 
for certainly in strength of purpose, energy, and will to 
succeed, also in vigorous health and constitution, they were 
alike. They also had both a great facility for learning 
languages. We were amused to read in a book on African 
travel by, I think, a Portuguese, whose name for the mo- 
ment I forget, that he came across the great hunter (I forget 
if he put it like that) Selous, ' somewhere ' in Africa, who 
addressed him in the French of the ' Boulevard des Itahens !' 
As I think this traveller was supposed to have a lively 
imagination, we accepted Fred's superior accent (after so 
many years of never speaking or hearing French) with some 
grains of salt. But not very many years ago at some 
international meeting to do with sport, at Turin or Paris, 
Fred representing England, he made a speech in French, 
on which he was much complimented, for accent, wit, and 
fluency alike. ^ 

^ The occasion of this speech was when the society of St. Hubert 
presented Selous with the medal of the " Acad§mie des Sports," " pour 
services rendus a la Chasse aux grandes fauves " on July 15th, 191 1. 



10 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" My mother, like my father, had a wonderful memory, 
and was a great reader, from childhood, her home possessing 
a big library. Scott was her great delight then, and indeed 
always, and poetry was as nectar and ambrosia to her. 
She had great facility in writing herself, very charmingl}-, 
both poetry and prose, all of the fantastic and imaginative 
order, and she had quite a gift for painting. Considering all 
the calls made on her time, of home and family (social, 
likewise), which were never neglected, it was wonderful that 
she could yet find time for all her writing and painting. 
Her perseverance and industry in the arts that she loved 
were really remarkable. We children greatly benefited by 
her love of poetry and story, for she was a true ' raconteuse ' 
and we drank in with delight the tales from the old myth- 
ologies of romance and adventure. She would tell us of 
deeds of ' derring-do ' and all that was inspiring in the way of 
freedom and love of country. Certainly with her, as with 
Sir Edward Clarke, poetry was ' a never failing source of 
pleasure and comfort ' to the last. (As it was also with 
me.) In the last year of her long life she could still repeat 
her poetic treasures with the greatest fire and spirit. She 
had a vigorous and original personality, with strong and 
decided views which she would express with energy. Her 
hands were full of character, strong yet most delicate, and 
much character in her features, with a smile that lit up her 
face like a ray of sunshine. Her maiden name was Sher- 
born — Ann Sherborn — (her mother's maiden name, Hol- 
gate) .... Her relations and ancestors were county folk — 
gentlemen farmers some of them . The Sherborns of Bedf ont 
near Staines, held the great tythe, and her uncle was the 
squire. None of the last generation married, the name has 
died with them and may be seen only in the little Bedfont 
churchyard. 

" My mother's uncle (her mother's brother), William 
Holgate, was fond of searching out genealogies and he 
managed to trace the Abyssinian Bruce s until it joined 
our Bruce family tree. There were many original — and it 
may be eccentric — characters amongst my mother's rela- 
tions and forebears, and many interesting stories that we 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS it 

loved to hear, about them. Her genealogical tree interested 
us greatly, partly because the names were so curious, as it 
went back to the early days of history, and because of the 
stories connected with them, and also because if not 
Bruce himself, his elder brother, David King of Scotland, 
figured in it. Then there was Archbishop Holgate of York, 
who was a great rogue (I looked up his life in the Minster 
precincts when I was there) and hand and glove with 
Henry VHI in the spoliation of the monasteries, yet he 
redeemed himself by the establishment of Free Schools, 
which flourish in York to this day. 

" It may be that this spirit of romance and adventure 
that we breathed in from our earliest years, had some 
influence on my brother Fred, and fired his imagination ; 
but why from the very first there should have been the 
persistent desire like an ' idee fixe ' for Africa, I cannot 
tell, unless, indeed, it might be something of ' Abyssinian ' 
Bruce cropping up again. But as a child he would have a 
waggon for a toy, to load and unload, and for his school 
prize books he would always choose one on Africa. This 
desire for the dark continent remained constant in him till 
satisfied, and indeed to the last. 

" My mother had quite an unusual interest in, and know- 
ledge of, natural history, and my father also made some 
fine collections of butterflies, etc., which are still to be seen 
in my brother's museum. My father's youngest brother, 
Angiolo — a man of the most poUshed and courtly manners 
— was as dark as my father was fair. Entirely educated by 
his mother, there was little in which he did not excel. He 
had a beautiful voice and was a charming singer, often to 
his own accompaniment on the guitar, and was a well- 
known dramatist in his time, some of his plays being most 
successful. How well I remember the first night of his 
' True to the Core,' when we all went across the river to 
the Surrey Theatre and helped with our feet and umbrellas 
in the general enthusiasm. He was a fine actor and dramatic 
reader, and a charming artist. We have a perfect gem of 
his — Don Quixote, sitting in his study — the colouring, the 
face and expression, the painting, are perfect, and one feels 



12 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

that Don Quixote must have looked just so. The haggard 
face and the wild look in the eyes that are seeing visions. 
But it was unfortunate that my uncle neglected this talent 
altogether. My uncle, Harry Selous, was of course the 
artist, excelling chiefly, I think, in his beautiful outlines of 
the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' and his ' Metamorphoses of Ovid,' 
on which subjects he could draw on his imagination for 
ever, it seemed. It is a thousand pities they have never 
been produced. His illustrations of the Life of Bruce and 
Hereward the Wake are fine, and The Prisoners of Calais 
and Boadicea are well known. The latter most fine, I think. 
He would paint the most charming landscapes with great 
rapidity, and his chalk (coloured) and pencil sketches from 
his travels in Switzerland are charming too, and endless 
numbers of them. He painted some of the famous Coliseum 
panoramas, each in turn being painted out by the next one, 
which always seemed very dreadful. His original illustra- 
tions drawn on wood, were exquisite, and it was cruel to 
see how they were spoilt in the wood-cutting, but he valued 
his work so lightly that he did not seem to mind much 
about it. My grandfather, Gideon Slous, had a very great 
talent for painting, and was a fine colourist, quite like an 
old master, and he painted some beautiful miniatures also. 
He was a man of violent temper." 

Frederick Courtenay Selous was born in the house in 
Regent's Park on December 31st, 1851. The other children 
of his parents were : Florence, " Locky," now Mrs. Hodges ; 
Annie, married to Mr. R. F. Jones ; Sybil, " Dei," married 
to Mr, C. A. Jones ; Edmund, married to Fanny, daughter 
of Mrs. Maxwell (Miss Braddon) . He is a well-known student 
of British bird-life and has published many interesting 
books on British Natural History. 

Of the childhood of Frederick little more need be said. 
He was an active httle fellow, never more happy than when 
playing with his wooden waggon and oxen or listening to his 
mother's stories of romance and adventure. At the age of 
nine he went to school at Bruce Castle, Tottenham, of which 
Arthur Hill was the headmaster, and there chiefly dis- 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 13 

tinguished himself by being constantly in trouble. Later 
he went for a short time to a small school in Northampton- 
shire, kept by the Revd. Charles Darnell, whose daughter 
(Mrs. Frank Juckes) recalls one characteristic incident. 

" One night my father on going round the dormitories to 
see that all was in order, discovered Freddy Selous, lying 
flat on the bare floor clothed only in his nightshirt. On 
being asked the cause of this curious behaviour he replied, 
' Well, you see, one day I am going to be a hunter in Africa 
and I am just hardening myself to sleep on the ground.' " 

One day in 1914, I found Selous busy at his desk at 
Worplesdon. On being asked what was the nature of his 
work, he said he was writing an account of his school days 
for a boys' magazine. He did not seem to think it would 
be of wide interest, and so had written his early adventures 
in simple form merely for the perusal of boys and had 
changed his own name to that of "John Leroux." 

" It was a damp and dismal winter's day towards the end 
of January, 1861, on which the boys reassembled after their 
Christmas holidays at a well-known school not far from 
London. Nevertheless, despite the gloom and the chilliness 
of the weather conditions outside the fine old mansion 
which had but lately been converted into a school, there 
was plenty of life and animation in the handsome oak- 
panelled banqueting hall within, at one end of which a 
great log fire blazed cheerfully. Generally speaking the boys 
seemed in excellent spirits, or at any rate they made a brave 
show of being so to keep up appearances, and the music of 
their laughter and of their fresh young voices was good to 
hear. Here and there, however, a poor little fellow stood 
apart, alone and friendless, and with eyes full of tears. 
Such unfortunates were the new boys, all of them young- 
sters of nine or ten, who had left their homes for the first 
time, and whose souls were full of an unutterable misery, 
after their recent partings from fond mothers and gentle 
sisters. The youngest, and possibly the most homesick of 
all the new boys was standing by himself at some distance 
from the fire, entirely oblivious of all that was going on 



14 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

around him, for he was too miserable to be able to think 
of anything but the home in which he had grown to boy- 
hood and all the happiness, which it seemed to his young 
soul, he could never know again amidst his new surroundings, 

" Now as it is this miserable little boy who is to be the 
hero of this story, he merits, I think, some description. 
Though only just nine years old he looked considerably 
more, for he was tall for his age, and strongly built. He 
was very fair with a delicate pink and white complexion, 
which many a lady might have envied, whilst his eyes 
sometimes appeared to be grey and sometimes blue. His 
features, if not very handsome or regular, were good enough 
and never failed to give the impression of an open and 
honest nature. Altogether he would have been considered 
by most people a typical specimen of an English boy of 
Anglo-Saxon blood. Yet, as a matter of fact, as in the case 
of so many Englishmen, there was but little of the Saxon 
element in his composition, for whilst his father came from 
the Isle of Jersey, and was therefore of pure Norman 
descent, his forebears on his mother's side were some of 
them Scotch and others from a district in the north of 
England in which the Scandinavian element is supposed to 
preponderate over the Saxon. But though our hero bore a 
Norman-French name the idea that he was not a pure- 
blooded Englishman had never occurred to him, for he 
knew that his Jersey ancestors had been loyal subjects 
of the English crown ever since, as a result of the battle 
of Hastings, Duke William of Normandy became King of 
England. 

" It was not long before the new boy's melancholy 
meditations were rudely broken in upon by a handsome 
lad of about his own size, though he was his senior by more 
than a year. ' Hullo,' said young Jim Kennedy, looking 
roguishly into the sad, almost tearful, eyes of the young 
Jerseyman, ' who gave you that collar ? Why, you look 
like Queen Elizabeth.' 

" A fond mother had indeed bedecked her darling boy 
with a beautiful collar of lace work several inches in breadth 
which spread over his shoulders, but which he soon found it 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 15 

advisable to discard as it made him the butt of every wit 
in the school. But though the collar was suppressed, the 
name of Queen Elizabeth, that august lady to whom Kennedy 
when first addressing him had declared that his mother's 
fond gift had given him a resemblance, stuck to him for 
many a long day. 

" The laughing, jeering interrogatory, acted like a tonic 
on the new boy, who though of a gentle, kindly disposition, 
possessed a very hot temper. His soft grey eyes instantly 
grew dark with anger as looking his questioner squarely 
in the face he answered slowly, ' What is that to you, who 
gave me my collar ? ' 

" ' Hullo ! ' again said Jim Kennedy, ' you're a cocky 
new boy. What's your name ? ' 

" ' My name is John Leroux,' said the young Jerseyman 
quietly and proudly, for his father had taught him to be 
proud of his Norman ancestry, and had instilled into his 
son his own firm belief that the Normans were a superior 
people to the Saxons, than whom he averred they had 
done more for the advancement of England to its present 
great position, and for the spread of the empire of Britain 
over half the world. 

" Kennedy repeated the unfamiliar name two or three 
times, and then with a derisive laugh said, ' Why, you're a 
Frenchy.' Now although it was quite true that on his 
father's side John Leroux was of Norman-French descent, 
for some reason difficult to analyse, the suggestion that he 
was a Frenchman filled his young heart with fury. His 
face grew scarlet and his fists clenched involuntarily as he 
answered fiercely, ' How dare you call me a Frenchy ! I'm 
not a Frenchman, I'm an EngUshman.' 

" * No, you're not,' said Kennedy, ' you're a Frenchy, a 
frog-eating Frenchy.' Without another word young Leroux, 
from whose face all the colour had now gone, sprang at his 
tormentor, and taking him unawares, struck him as hard a 
blow as he was capable of inflicting full in the mouth. 
And then the fight commenced. 

" Fifty years ago manners were rougher and ruder in 
these islands than they are to-day. Prize-fighting was a 



i6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

respected and popular calling, and set fights between boys 
at school of all ages were of constant occurrence. 

" A ring was soon formed around the combatants and 
though the majority of the onlookers resented what they 
called the ' coxiness ' of the new boy and wanted to see him 
get a licking, there were quite a number of young barbarians 
whose sympathies were entirely with Leroux, for his pluck 
in engaging in a fight on his first day at school made a strong 
appeal to them. The boys were evenly matched, for though 
Kennedy was more than a year older, he was no taller, 
and little if any stronger than his opponent, who, moreover, 
had had a certain amount of instruction from his father in 
the use of his fists. The battle had lasted for some minutes, 
and had been waged with the greatest determination on 
both sides, and no very severe damage to either participant, 
when the door at the end of the room opened and Mr. Mann, 
the tall young Scotch mathematical master, strode into the 
room. Taking in the position at a glance, he elbowed his 
way through the crowd of boys, who were watching the 
fight, and seizing the combatants simultaneously, each in 
one of his strong large hands, he whirled them apart, and 
held them out of reach of one another, though they both 
strained hard to resume the fray. 

" ' You young rascals,' he said, ' why what on earth are 
you fighting about, and on the first day of the term too ! 
Now tell me what on earth it was all about and make it up.' 
" ' He called me a Frenchman, and I'm not,' said young 
Leroux, and the stress of battle over, the poor boy com- 
menced to sob. 

" A more generous lad than Jim Kennedy never stepped, 
and at the sight of his adversary's distress, his dark eyes 
filled with tears, and as Mr. Mann relaxed his grasp on his 
shoulder, he at once came forward with outstretched hand 
to Leroux and said, ' I'll never call you a Frenchy again ; 
shake hands and let us be friends.' And so the two tearful 
young Britons, each of whose faces bore some traces of the 
recent battle, shook hands and from that time forth, as 
long as they were at school together, became the most 
devoted of friends. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 17 

" This was John Leroux's first introduction to school 
hfe. Like any other healthy vigorous boy, he soon shook 
off the despondency of homesickness, and became perfectly 
happy in his new surroundings. He worked well and con- 
scientiously at his lessons, and played hard at all games, 
and was not only a general favourite with all his school- 
fellows, but was also beloved by all the masters in spite 
of the fact that his adventurous disposition was constantly 
leading him to transgress all the rules of the school. With 
young Leroux the love of nature and the desire for the 
acquisition of objects of natural history of all kinds was 
an inborn and absorbing passion. Before leaving home 
he had already commenced to make collections of birds' 
eggs and butterflies, and throughout his school-days his 
interest in these and kindred subjects constantly grew. 
During the spring and summer months all his time that was 
not occupied in lessons or games was spent in birds' -nesting 
and collecting butterflies, whilst in the winter he trapped 
and skinned water rats and other small animals, and some- 
times caught a stoat or a weasel. He soon became by far 
the best and most venturesome climber in the whole school, 
and there was not a rook's nest in any one of the fine old 
elms or oak-trees in which these birds built in the park 
in which the schoolhouse stood, from which he was not 
able to get the eggs, which for the most part he gave away 
to less athletic or adventurous collectors. After he had 
been espied on one occasion high up amongst the nests in 
one of the tallest elm-trees by the headmaster himself, who 
was genuinely alarmed for his safety, all tree-climbing in 
the park was forbidden. This rule was, of course, constantly 
broken, and by no one more frequently than by Leroux. 
However, as it takes some time to climb to a rook's nest, 
and as a boy is a conspicuous object amongst the topmost 
branches of a tree in the early spring before the leaves are 
out, our young friend was constantly being detected either 
by one of the undermasters or one of the men working in 
the grounds, who had all had strict orders to be on the watch. 
It was owing to this persecution, as he considered it, that 
Leroux conceived the idea of taking the rooks' eggs he wanted 



i8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

at night, and with the help of Kennedy and another kindred 
spirit he made several raids on the rookery with perfect 
success when all the masters were in bed. The dormitories 
were on the first story and therefore not very high above 
the ground, and as the walls of the house were covered with 
ivy, it was not very difficult for an active boy to get out of 
the window and down or up the ivy-covered wall, with the 
help of the rope which Leroux brought from home in his 
portmanteau after one Christmas holiday. Having allowed 
sufficient time to pass after Mons. Delmar, the French 
master, had made his nightly rounds to see that all the boj^s 
were snug in bed, and all lights out, Leroux and Kennedy, 
who were in the same dormitory, and who had both appar- 
ently been fast asleep when the French master passed 
through the room, suddenly woke up and producing a 
candle and a box of matches from beneath their respective 
pillows, kindled a light and hastily made their preparations. 
The window having been softly opened, one end of the rope 
was fastened to one of the legs of the nearest bed, whilst 
the free end was lowered down the wall to the ground. 
This having been accomplished the candle was blown out, 
and then Leroux and Kennedy climbed down the ivy with 
the help of the rope. Although all the boys in the dormitory 
took the greatest interest in these proceedings and were 
ready to render any assistance necessary, a boy named 
Barnett always hauled up the rope as soon as the adventurers 
were on the ground, and hid it under the bed near the window 
in case of accidents until their return, for which he kept a 
sharp look-out. Once on the ground Leroux and his com- 
panion made their way to one or other of several large oak- 
trees in the park in which there were a number of rooks' 
nests ; for these oaks were not only not as lofty as the elms, 
but were, moreover, much easier to climb. Kennedy, 
though a fairly good cUmber, was not the equal of Leroux in 
this respect, and after assisting the latter to reach the 
lowest branches, he always waited for his return at the foot 
of the tree. When the rooks were thus rudely disturbed at 
night, they always made what seemed to the two boys a 
most appalling noise, but if anyone ever heard it he never 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 19 

guessed the true cause, or took any steps to investigate its 
meaning, and although during three successive years the 
two boys raided the rookery on several different occasions, 
their escapades were never discovered or even suspected. 
Once, however, they only just got back into their dormitory 
before the policeman made his nightly round. As a rule 
he did not make his circuit of the house flashing his lantern 
on all the windows until after midnight, but on the occasion 
in question he came much earlier than usual, and Leroux 
and Kennedy had only just scrambled up the ivy-covered 
wall, and reached their room with the assistance of the 
rope which the watchful Barnett had let down for them, 
when they saw the policeman's lantern flash round the end 
of the house, through their still open window, which they 
then closed very cautiously without making any noise. It 
was the policeman's nightly round of the house, which was 
thus so forcibly brought to his notice, that gave Leroux an 
idea, which he and Kennedy and Barnett, together with 
some other boys, subsequently acted upon with great success. 
This was nothing more nor less than to play a practical joke 
on the policeman by hanging a dummy figure out of the 
window one night, on which he would be sure to flash his 
lantern when he made his round of the house. In each 
dormitory there was a huge clothes-basket, not very high 
but very capacious, and choosing an evening when their 
basket was very full of clothes for the wash, Leroux and his 
friends, with the help of a bolster, a coat, shirt, and pair of 
trousers, and some of the contents of the clothes-basket, 
made a very good imitation of the figure of a boy. The 
top end of the bolster which was pinched in a little lower 
down by the shirt collar, made a nice round ball for the 
head, and on this a mask and a tow wig, which had been 
bought just before Guy Fawkes day, were fixed. Then the 
rope which had done such good service on the occasions of 
the raids on the rookery, was fastened round the dummy 
figure's neck, and the really meritorious imitation of a dead 
boy lowered out of the window and allowed to dangle 
some six feet beneath it. The head, which with its mask 
and wig of tow now hung over to one side, gave the some- 



20 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

what podgy and certainly very inanimate looking figure 
quite a realistic appearance. The work of preparing this 
figure after the French master had been round the dormi- 
tories, occupied the boys some time, and when at last, after 
the rope had been fastened round its neck, it was lowered 
out of the window, it was past eleven o'clock. The boys 
then took it in turns to watch for the coming of the police- 
man, each watcher kneeUng at the window well wrapped 
in his bedclothes. It was Barnett who was on duty when 
at last the policeman came. * Cavy,' he whispered, ' here 
he comes,' and all the boys, whose excitement had kept 
them awake, made their way to the window, across which 
the light of the lantern soon flashed. The result was im- 
mediate and exceeded the utmost expectations of Leroux 
and his companions. The policeman — a young man but 
lately enrolled in the force — was seen to be gesticulating 
and shouting at the top of his voice, evidently trying to 
attract the attention of those in the room above him, 
from which the boy figure, with its ghastly pale cardboard 
face, hung dangling at the end of a rope. There was, how- 
ever, no response from the listening boys. Suddenly the 
policeman ceased his outcries, and running down the foot- 
path turned the corner of the house. Immediately after 
there was a terrific banging at the front door, accompanied 
by loud shouting. ' Quick,' said Leroux, ' up with the 
window, and let's get the dummy in.' At the same time 
Kennedy ran to the further door of the dormitory and 
holding it sHghtly ajar, peered out on the landing, which 
overlooked the large hall at the end of which was the main 
entrance of the house from whence all the noise proceeded. 
And now anxious voices were heard, and lights appeared 
from all directions. ' Old Rex ' — the headmaster — ' has 
opened the hall door,' said Kennedy, ' and is talking to the 
poUceman. My eye,' he continued, ' Old Cockeye's there 
too, she's crying out and snuffling like a good 'un.' I 
grieve to say that ' Old Cockeye ' was the disrespectful 
nickname which had been given by the boys to the matron 
— a most exemplary lady with an unfortunate squint in the 
left eye. And now there was a babble of approaching voices 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 21 

as the party in the hall rapidly ascended the staircase 
leading to the dormitories. Kennedy softly closed the door 
at which he had been listening, and already Leroux and 
Barnett had shut the window after having pulled up the 
rope with the dummy figure attached to the end of it, which 
was hastily thrust under the nearest bed. ' Mind we're all 
asleep ; we don't know anything about it,' said Kennedy in 
a loud whisper as he jumped nto his bed and composed 
his features into an appearance of placid innocence, which 
indeed was the attitude adopted by all the other boys in the 
room. Then the dormitory door was thrown wide open and 
the headmaster rushed in, candle in hand, closely followed 
by the poUceman, the matron and two of the undermasters. 
At the same time the door of the other end of the room was 
flung open, and a strange half-clad figure, with wild eyes and 
candle in hand, came forward amongst the sleeping boys not 
one of whom, strange to say, showed the slightest sign of 
having been in any way disturbed by all the hubbub. ' Mon 
Dieu,' said Mons. Delmar, ' qu'est-ce qu'il y a done ? ' as he 
ran to meet the headmaster. The latter was indeed a 
pathetic figure as he stood half-dressed looking round 
the room with wild eyes, his long grey hair falling 
over his shoulders. In his right hand he held a!; candle- 
stick, whilst his left was clasped over his forehead. ' ' Great 
God,' he said, ' no — no — impossible,' as if talking to himself, 
and then suddenly turning to the policeman, ' Why, officer, 
you must be mistaken, every boy is here in his bed.' 

"'I seed him, sir ; I seed him with my own eyes, indeed 
I did,' answered the policeman. 

" ' Oh, deary, deary, deary me,' wailed the matron, 
whose unfortunate obliquity of vision had gained her so 
irreverent a nickname. 

" ' Which window was it, officer ? ' asked the headmaster. 

" ' The one near the end of the room,' replied the police- 
man. In another moment the window in question was 
thrown wide open and several heads were protruded into 
the cold night air. 

" ' There's nothing here,' said the headmaster. 

" ' Well, I'm ' said the policeman, leaving it to his 



22 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

audience to linish the sentence according to their several 
incUnations. At this moment an exclamation from the 
French master caused everyone to turn round. In his 
anxiety to get to the window, one of the undermasters had 
pushed the end of Leroux's bed sharply to one side — without 
however awakening its occupant — and exposed to the 
Frenchman's sharp eyes a portion of the rope which had 
been attached to the dummy figure which was the cause of 
all the excitement. Stooping down to catch hold of it, he 
at once saw the dummy under the bed, and pulled it out with 
an exclamation which Leroux afterwards affirmed was 
certainly ' sacre.' 

" * Well, I'm ' again said the poUceman, without going 

any further, and so again leaving his hearers in doubt as 
to what he was. Old Rex, the headmaster, then seized 
Leroux by the shoulder, and shook him violently, but for 
some time without any other effect than to cause him to 
snore loudly ; otherwise he appeared not only to be fast 
asleep, but to have sunk into a kind of comatose condition. 
At last, however, he could stand the shaking no longer, and 
so opened his eyes. 

" ' Do you know anything about this, Leroux ? ' said 
old Rex sternly. 

" ' Yes, sir,' said Leroux. 

" ' It was a cruel hoax,' said the headmaster. 

" ' I wanted to play a joke on the Bobby,' said Leroux. 

" ' Well, I'm ' murmured that functionary, once more 

discreetly veiling any further information which might 
otherwise have been forthcoming by covering his mouth 
with his left hand. 

" ' Officer, these boys have played a shameful trick on 
you, but you did your duty. I'm sorry that you should 
have been disturbed in this way. Boys, I know you are all 
awake, I shall inquire into this matter to-morrow.' So 
saying, but looking very much relieved, the headmaster 
turned on his heel and left the room, followed by all those 
who had entered it with him after having been roused from 
their sleep by the policeman. 

" Now ' old Rex,' the headmaster of the fine school at 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 23 

which our hero acquired the rudiments of learning, was a 
reformer and an ideaUst, and corporal chastisement was 
never inflicted on the boys on any consideration whatever. 
The punishments for minor offences were various tasks 
during play hours, or compulsory walks conducted by old 
Rex himself, and which most of the boys rather enjoyed. 
For more serious misdemeanours the offending scholars 
were separated from their fellows, and placed in solitary 
confinement in a distant part of the house for periods 
ranging from a day to a week, during which they got nothing 
to eat or drink but dry bread with a mere trace of butter on 
it, and weak tea. As a sequel to the great dummy joke, the 
fame of which by some means was spread through all the 
neighbouring parishes, Leroux and Kennedy, who acknow- 
ledged that they were the ringleaders in the matter, were 
condemned to three days' solitary confinement, to be 
followed by various tasks and compulsory walks during 
the play hours of the following week, whilst the rest of the 
boys in the dormitory got off with some extra lessons to be 
learnt whilst their school-fellows were enjoying themselves 
in the playground during the next two half-holidays, and a 
long lecture on the heinousness of the crime, to which old 
Rex said with perfect truth he believed they had been 
willing accessories. 

" After the perpetration of the dummy joke, however, 
the French master, whether on his own initiative or at the 
instigation of the headmaster, commenced to make himself 
a great nuisance, not only coming round the dormitories 
with a lighted candle as usual soon after the boys had gone 
to bed, but often returning later on without a candle and 
wearing carpet slippers. The single combats and inter- 
dormitory bolster-fights which were a feature of the school- 
life were constantly being interfered with. The door of the 
dormitory in which our hero slept had always to be kept 
ajar and a boy placed there to watch for the coming of 
Mons. Delmar when any fun was going on, and the sudden- 
ness with which at the single word ' cavy,' the confused 
noise of an animated bolster-fight was succeeded by the 
most deathlike stillness was truly astonishing. Before 



24 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Mons. Delmar could strike a light, every boy was not only 
in bed, but sleeping so soundly that nothing the puzzled 
French master could say or do could arouse them to con- 
sciousness. Various plans were discussed by the most 
enterprising boys in the different dormitories. Math a view 
to discouraging these informal visits after the lights had 
been put out. One night a piece of cord was tied by Leroux 
across the gangway at about a foot from the ground between 
the two beds nearest the door of the room in which he slept, 
over which it was hoped Mons. Delmar would trip on 
entering. On this occasion, however, he did not enter the 
room at all, but after opening the door, Ughted the candle 
he held in his hand and merely looked round, turning on his 
heels again without speaking a word. It was hoped that he 
had not noticed the string, and another opportunity might 
be given him of falling over it. On the next night, however, 
the boys in the adjoining dormitory set a trap for him by 
placing the large inverted clothes-basket over the half 
open door of the room, in such a way that it would, with 
reasonable good luck, be very likely to fall like an ex- 
tinguisher over the head and shoulders of anyone entering 
the dormitory, and when Mons. Delmar presently pushed 
the door open, down came the large wicker basket. As it 
was dark it was impossible to determine exactly whether it 
came down over his head and shoulders or only fell on his 
head, but his candlestick was certainly knocked out of his 
hand and he swore most volubly in his own language. 
After having found and lighted his candle he first harangued 
his young tormentors, all of whom were apparently over- 
come by a deathUke sleep, and then went straight off to 
the headmaster's study. The result of his complaint was 
the infliction of certain tasks and compulsory walks on all 
the occupants of the offending dormitory, but after this 
there was no further spying on the boys. Poor Mons. 
Delmar ! no doubt he had only been acting under instruc- 
tions, though perhaps he entered on his detective duties a 
little too zealously. 

" Altogether John Leroux spent four very happy years at 
his first school, and besides making good progress with his 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 25 

lessons, showed great aptitude for all games and athletic 
exercises, especially football and swimming. Ever since 
the fight on the evening of the day of his first entrance to 
the school he and Kennedy had been the closest of friends. 
The two boys had paid several visits to one another's homes 
dming the holidays, and it was chiefly because Kennedy's 
parents had decided to send their son to a great public 
school in the Midlands, for the entrance examination for 
which he had been undergoing a special preparation, that it 
was finally decided that Leroux should be sent to the same 
seat of learning. Up tjll then, however, Leroux, though well 
advanced for his age in all other subjects, had been spared 
the study of Greek, at the particular request of his father, 
who as a practical business man, looked upon the time 
spent by a schoolboy in acquiring a very imperfect knowledge 
of any dead language, save Latin, as entirely wasted. But 
to pass the entrance examination for any of our great public 
schools fifty years ago some knowledge of Greek was abso- 
lutely necessary, and so when Kennedy at the age of fourteen, 
passed into the great school, his friend Leroux who hoped 
to rejoin him there as soon as he had reached the same age, 
was in the meantime sent to the establishment of a clergy- 
man living in a remote village in Northamptonshire to be 
specially coached in Greek. 

" The Rev. Charles Darnell, Rector of the parish of 
Belton, was a short stout elderly man of a very easy-going 
disposition, who exercised but little supervision over the 
dozen pupils he was able to find accommodation for in his 
rambling old Rectory. But he employed a couple of good 
tutors well up to their work, and his son, who was a curate 
in a neighbouring parish and just as irascible as his father 
was placid in temperament, also helped to coach the boys 
in his charge. 

" At the time of our story Belton was a small village of 
stonebuilt cottages, all the windows in which were of the 
old diamond-paned pattern. The village was dominated 
by an ancient and picturesque church, surrounded by yew- 
trees, amongst which were scattered the moss-grown tomb- 
stones of many generations of Beltonians. A feature of the 



26 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

churchyard was the family vault of a large landowner in 
the neighbourhood. The present representative of this 
ancient family, locally known as ' old squire,' was an eccen- 
tric bachelor, who lived in a picturesque old Manor House 
with only two or three servants. It was said in the village 
that he had never been seen outside the boundaries of his 
estate for many years, and that he seldom walked abroad 
even in his own grounds till after dark. 

" It was during his first term, in very early spring, that 
Leroux, accompanied by a fellow-pupil, took a wood-owl's 
eggs from a hollow ash-tree in the deserted park, and he 
subsequently spent many of his half-holidays birds'-nesting 
all over the neglected estate. He never met a keeper, nor, 
indeed, anyone else to question his right to be there, not 
even in the empty stables or in the thick shrubberies and 
weed-grown plots of ground near the great house which had 
once been gardens. There were two small lakes in the park, 
and in one of them during the autumn and winter months 
Leroux and one or two of his more adventurous fellow-students 
used to set ' trimmers,' on which they caught a good many 
pike, some of quite a good size, and now and again they 
shot a moorhen with a saloon pistol which belonged to a 
boy named Short. 

" Whatever the boys caught or shot was taken to a cer- 
tain cottage in the village, the residence of an old woman 
who was a very clever cook, and at this cottage Leroux and 
his friends enjoyed many a good meal of baked pike stuffed 
with the orthodox ' pudding,' and even found the moorhens, 
which the old woman skinned before cooking, very palatable. 

" Belton being in the centre of a noted hunting-country, 
the hounds sometimes passed in full cry within sight of the 
Rectory, and whenever this happened the Rector's pupils 
were allowed by an old-established custom, even if they were 
in the middle of a lesson, to throw down their books and 
join in the run. 

" During the year he spent at the Rectory Leroux worked 
hard at his lessons, and made good progress in Greek as 
well as in all other subjects which he had to get up, in view 
of the approaching entrance examination to the great 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 27 

Midland school. Games were neglected at this period, as 
there were not enough pupils at the Rectory to make up 
two sides either at football or cricket, but for Leroux and 
his fellow-pupils of similar tastes, the old squire's deserted 
estate formed a most glorious playground in which they 
found a fine field for the exercise and development of the 
primitive instincts which had come down to them from their 
distant ancestors of palaeoUthic times. The only pranks 
that Leroux indulged in during his year at Belton were all 
connected with the old church of which Mr. Darnell was 
the incumbent, and at which his pupils were obliged to 
attend the two services held every Sunday. As in many 
of the old churches in the remote districts of Northampton- 
shire at that time, there was no organ, but the hymns were 
sung to an accompaniment of flute, violin and 'cello, the 
performers on these instruments being seated in a kind of 
minstrels' gallery at the end of the church facing the pulpit. 
" After the service on Sunday evening the musical instru- 
ments were taken by the musicians to their own homes, 
but one Sunday afternoon Leroux and Short — the owner of 
the saloon pistol — surreptitiously entered the church and 
thoroughly soaped the bows of the violin- and violoncello- 
players, and introduced several peas into the flute. That 
evening the music was very defective, but although the 
musicians knew that their instruments had been tampered 
with there is no reason to believe that they ever suspected 
that any of the Rector's ' young gentlemen ' had had any- 
thing to do with the trick which had been played upon them. 
In future, however, the bows and the flute were removed 
between the services, as Leroux discovered about a month 
later, when he thought it was time to repeat his first success- 
ful experiment. An aged parishioner, who was always 
dressed in a smock-frock and grey wooUen stockings, had his 
seat on a bench just in front of the pews where Mr. Darnell's 
pupils sat. This old man invariably removed his shoes on 
sitting down, and placed them carefully under his seat, 
and on several occasions during the sermon, Leroux managed 
to remove them with the help of a stick to the end of which 
a piece of wire in the shape of a hook had been attached. 



28 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Once the shoes had been drawn to Leroux's seat they were 
passed down by the other boys from pew to pew, and finally 
left at a considerable distance from their original place of 
deposition. The old fellow always made a great fuss about 
the removal of his shoes, which not only amused the Rector's 
pupils and all the younger members of the congregation, 
but must also have had an exhilarating influence on the 
spirits of their elders, upon whom the effect of the usual dull 
sermon always appeared to be very sedative to say the least 
of it. However, no public complaint was ever made, and 
when the old man at length took the precaution to keep 
his shoes on his feet during service, all temptation to meddle 
with them was removed." 



CHAPTER II 

1865-1870 

WHEN the time came for Fred to go to Rugby 
both Mr. Darnell and Mr. Hill advised Mr. 
Wilson, to whose house it was proposed to send 
him, not on any account to have a boy whose escapades 
would be a constant source of trouble, but fortunately Mr. 
Wilson liked ' naughty ' boys and disregarded their warnings. 
Selous entered Rugby in January, 1866, and was a pupil 
in Mr. Wilson's house for two years. His letters to his 
mother at this period are of the usual schoolboy type, 
mostly requests for money, books or additions to the com- 
missariat. He was always reading when he got the chance, 
the choice invariably tending towards travel and adventure. 
He writes : — 

" January, 1866. 

" I am reading a new book by Mr. Livingstone. It is 
called ' The Zambesi and its Tributaries,' from 1858-1864. 
It is very interesting and is about the discovery of two large 
lakes. Send me two catapults." And " I am sorry to hear 
the rat skins are eaten, but very glad that the stoat's has 
not met with the same fate." Another letter shows his 
consideration for his parents in the matter of money and is 
somewhat characteristic. 

" My dear Mama, 

" I hope you are quite well, I am now at Rugby and 
very comfortable. I have a study with another boy, and 
we have an allowance of candles and tea and sugar, etc., 
given out every week, and we make our own tea and break- 
fast in our studies and it is very nice indeed. I have passed 

29 



30 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

into Upper Middle two when Lower Middle two would have 
done. I have to pay over some subscriptions. 

" £i subscription to the racket court. 

" los. to football club, los. to cricket club, los. for our 
own house subscription, all of which I am forced to pay. 
I have to buy a great many things which I could not help 
and I have spent a lot of my money on them. I will write 
them down to show you that not one of them was extrava- 
gance but quite the opposite. 

" 7s. 6d. to have my watch mended, is. to go to Harbro' 
to get my watch and come back. is. to have my dirty 
clothes washed. 2s. for a book I have to use at Rugby 
which I had not got. 3s. to come from Welton to Rugby 
after coming back to get my boxes. All these were necessary, 
weren't they ? 

" It is not my fault that there are such a lot of expenses 
at a public school, but it is only the first half. Please send 
in a registered letter, I have seen a great many boys receive 
them. I have passed very high, loth out of 75, and that 
will partly make up to you for some of the subscriptions 
Give my best love to Papa and brothers and sisters. 

" I remain your affectionate son, 

" Freddy." 

From this time his life at Rugby is thus given in his own 
words : — 

" In January, 1866, when John Leroux was just fourteen 
years of age, he easily passed the entrance examination 
to the great school in the Midlands and became a member 
of the house which his old friend Jim Kennedy had entered 
just a year earlier. Here he spent two and a half very happy 
years, and as at the end of that time he was only sixteen, he 
would in the ordinary course have continued his studies 
for at least another two years before leaving school, had it 
not been his father's wish that he should go abroad to learn 
French and German before reaching an age at which it 
would be necessary to settle down to the real business of 
life and make his own living. At the great school there were 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 31 

three half-holidays weekly, but the boys were expected to 
do a good deal of preparation for the next day's lessons 
during their leisure time. Some boys shirked these out-of- 
class studies, but Leroux always did whatever was expected 
of him most conscientiously and often very slowly and with 
much labour, as he never used a crib to assist him with his 
Latin and Greek translations. He was not at all brilliant, 
but was well up in the school for his age, and had he stayed 
another term would have been in the sixth — the highest 
form in the school. However famous the great Midland 
school may have been fifty years ago, as a seat of learning, 
it was certainly not less famous for the great game of foot- 
ball, the playing of which was as compulsory on the scholars 
as the study of Greek. Primitive Rugby football was a 
very different affair to the highly scientific game of the 
present day. There was more running with the ball, far 
less kicking into touch, and no heehng out behind the scrim- 
mage. Hacking was not only permissible but was one of 
the main features of the game, and when the ball was put 
down in the scrimmage the object of each side was to 
' hack it through,' that is, to clear a path for the ball by 
kicking the skins of every one in the way as hard as possible. 
There were twenty boys on each side in the old Rugby game 
of whom the backs and half-backs only numbered five 
altogether — such a thing as a three-quarter back was un- 
dreamt of — so that there were fifteen forwards on each side. 
When anyone ran with the ball, the cry was ' hack him 
over,' and as often as not the runner was brought down with 
a neat kick on the shin. It was altogether a rough, possibly 
a rather brutal game ; but it made the boys strong and 
hardy, and with the exception of badly bruised shins there 
were very few accidents. A young boy, on his first entrance 
to the big school, could only wear duck trousers at football, 
but if he played up, and did not flinch from the hacking, the 
Captain of his twenty gave him his ' flannels ' and then 
exchanged his duck for flannel trousers. There was no 
school twenty, and therefore no school cap, and aU the most 
hotly contested matches were between the different houses 
for the honour of being ' cock house.' Every house had its 



32 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

own cap, but in each house, except in the case of the school 
house, where there was a large number of pupils, there were 
only a few caps in each football twenty. For instance, in 
Leroux's house, where there were fifty-two pupils, there 
were only four who had got their caps. Though one of the 
youngest boys in the house Leroux threw himself into the 
game with a zest and enthusiasm which at once compelled 
attention, and won him his ' flannels ' in his first term, and 
after playing up well in the first great match in the autumn 
term of the same year he was given his cap. He thus got his 
cap whilst still in his fourteenth year, and was the youngest 
boy in the whole school who possessed that much-coveted 
prize. The only other sport besides football indulged in by the 
boys at the great school during the term between Christmas 
and Easter was that known as ' house washing.' Led by 
one of the oldest and strongest boys, the whole house were 
accustomed to spend one half -holiday every week, during 
the cold, damp, dreary months of February and March, in 
jumping backwards and forwards over a small brook or 
river, which at that time of the year was usually swollen 
by recent rain. The first jumps were taken across the 
narrowest parts of the stream, and here only the youngest 
and weakest boys got into the water. But it was a point 
of honour to go on taking bigger and bigger jumps, until 
every boy in the house had failed to reach the opposite 
bank and all had got thoroughly soused. The last jump 
was known as ' Butler's Leap.' Here the stream ran 
through a tunnel beneath one of the high roads traversing 
the district, but before doing so it ran for a short distance 
parallel with the road, which had been built up to the height 
of the bridge above it. From the brick wall on either side 
of the bridge low wooden barriers, perhaps two and a half 
feet high, had been placed on the slope of the road on either 
side to the level of the fields below, and it was thus possible 
to get a run across the whole width of the road and leap 
the low barrier in an attempt to reach the opposite bank 
of the stream, which was here over twenty feet wide, and 
some twenty feet below the level of the top of the bridge. 
A hero named Butler had either been the first boy to attempt 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 33 

this desperate leap, or he had actually cleared the stream 
and landed on the opposite bank. Tradition concerning 
the details of the exploit varied, but whether Butler had 
made the great jump or only attempted it, he had immortal- 
ised his name by his daring. Now, only the biggest and 
most venturesome boys in each house were expected to 
attempt Butler's Leap, but nevertheless some of the younger 
ones always had a try at it, and amongst these were Kennedy 
and Leroux. They cleared the wooden barrier at the side 
of the road, and fell through the air into the stream below, 
but far short of the further bank, which they had to reach 
by swimming. 

" From a perusal of the letters which Leroux faithfully 
wrote every week to his mother, it would seem that with 
the exception of the fierce football contests for ' cock ' 
house, and occasional snowball encounters with the town 
* louts ' — the contemptuous appellation given by the boys 
at the school to all their fellow-citizens — all his most inter- 
esting experiences were connected with his passion for 
birds'-nesting, and the pursuit of sport, at first with a saloon 
pistol and subsequently with a pea-rifle, on the domains of 
neighbouring landowners. The master of Leroux 's house 
was a man of very fine character and most kindly disposition, 
and was much beloved by all his pupils. He was always a 
most kind friend to Leroux, and being a teacher of natural 
science — it was certain experiments in chemistry which 
had earned for him amongst the boys the sobriquet of 
' Jim Stinks ' — was much drawn to him by his very pro- 
nounced taste for the study of natural history, and his 
practical knowledge of English birds and beasts. In his 
second year at the school, Leroux got into the first mathe- 
matical set in the upper school, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
and Saturdays, and on every third week on Mondays as 
well, had no lessons in school, after 10.15 iii the morning. 
But on these half-holidays, or almost whole holidays, all 
the boys in the school had to attend and answer to their 
names at a ' call over ' which was held at the big school 
during the afternoon, and from which no boy could escape 
except with the written permission of his house-master. 



34 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

During the summer Leroux's kindly house-master often 
allowed his favourite pupil to be absent from ' call over,' 
and he was thus able, by taking the train, to visit districts 
and pursue his ornithological rambles at quite a long 
distance from the school. On these distant excursions, 
however, although he paid no attention whatever to the 
numerous notice-boards intimating that trespassers would 
be prosecuted, he was never caught by a gamekeeper, 
though he had some good runs to escape their attentions. 
In the more immediate vicinity of the school, possibly the 
keepers were more on the look-out for birds'-nesting boys, 
who were often brought up by their captors before the head- 
master, the great Dr. Temple, familiarly known in the 
school as ' Old Froddy.' This great and good man, how- 
ever, always let the young trespassers off very lightly. 

" One Sunday afternoon Leroux was pursued by a game- 
keeper to the very doors of the chapel, and indeed it was 
only under the stimulus of this pursuit that he could possibly 
have got in in time for the service, and ' cutting chapel ' 
meant having to write out the whole of the fourth Georgic 
of Virgil, which was just over 500 lines. When the bell 
ceased tolling, Leroux was still some distance from the 
chapel door, and handicapped besides with the top-hat, 
which all the boys always had to wear on Sunday, and a 
clutch of sparrowhawk's eggs twisted up in his handker- 
chief, on which he had to hold his hand in his coat-pocket, 
to prevent them from shaking together. But old Patey, 
who always checked off the boys at ' call over ' and on 
their entrance to the chapel, took in the situation at a glance 
and held the door ajar till Leroux got inside, and then 
slammed it to in the gamekeeper's face. Leroux fully ex- 
pected that his pursuer would wait outside till chapel was 
over and try and identify him as he came out, but he prob- 
ably got tired of waiting or else thought it impossible to 
pick out the boy he had chased and of whom he had only 
had a back view, amongst over five hundred other boys. 

" About three miles from the big school in the midst of a 
wide expanse of undulating meadow-land, interspersed with 
small woods, stood the fine old manor house of Pilton 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 35 

Range. As there was no game preservation on this estate, 
there were no keepers to shoot down magpies, carrion crows, 
kestrels and sparrowhawks, and Leroux consequently found 
it a very fine hunting ground for the nests of these birds. 
One day soon after the Easter holidays, and during his 
second year at the big school, Leroux paid a visit to the 
Pilton Range grounds, to look at a magpie's nest which he 
had found building a fortnight before. He was walking 
along a high hedge bordering a field, about a mile away 
from the house, when a man dressed as a labourer climbed 
over a gate at the other end of the field and came walking 
towards him. Now Leroux had often met labouring men 
on the Pilton Range estate before, but had never been 
interfered with in any way by them, so he paid no attention 
to the man who was now coming towards him, but walked 
quietly to meet him. The heavily built labourer came 
slouching along, apparently without taking the slightest 
interest in the approaching boy, but just as he was passing 
him, and without having previously spoken a word, he shot 
out his right hand, and caught Leroux by the waistcoat just 
beneath the collar. ' Well, what do you want ? ' said Leroux. 
" ' You come along o' me to Mr. Blackstone ' — the 
bailiff of the Pilton Range estate — said the labourer. Now 
Leroux had set his heart on visiting the magpie's nest, which 
he thought would be sure to contain eggs by now, and he 
was very averse to having his plans deranged by a visit to 
Mr. Blackstone. He first therefore offered to give his name to 
his captor to be reported to the headmaster, and when this 
proposition was received with a derisive laugh he pulled a 
letter from his coat pocket, and offered the envelope as a 
proof of his veracity. Possibly the heavy-looking lout 
who had taken him prisoner could not read. At any rate 
he never even glanced at the envelope which Leroux held 
out for his inspection, but merely repeating his invitation 
to ' come along o' me to Mr. Blackstone,' proceeded to walk 
towards the gate in the corner of the field at which he had 
made his first appearance. Leroux felt that he was very 
firmly held, for the labourer's fingers had passed through 
the armhole of his waistcoat, so he at first pretended to be 



36 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

resigned to his fate, and walked quietly along beside his 
obdurate captor. Just before reaching the gate, however, 
he gave a sudden wrench, and almost got free, but on his 
waistcoat beginning to tear, desisted. In the struggle, 
however, boy and man had swung face to face, as the 
labourer held Leroux with his right hand clenched on the 
left side of the boy's waistcoat near the collar. After this 
Leroux refused to walk beside his captor any further, but 
forced him to walk backwards and pull him every step of 
the way, and as he was then fifteen years old and a strong 
heavy boy for his age, their progress was slow. Fortunately 
for the labourer he was able to open the gate in the corner 
of the field in which he had made his capture, as well as 
two others which had to be passed before reaching the Hall, 
with his left hand, for he would never have been able to 
have got Leroux over these gates. Leroux would have 
attacked the man with his fists and hacked him on the shins, 
but he knew that that would have put him in the wrong 
with the headmaster, so he just leaned back, and made his 
captor walk backwards and pull him along every step of 
the way up to the Hall. He also made a point of bringing 
his heels down heavily on the labourer's feet at every step. 
At last, however, Leroux was dragged through the open gates 
of the great archway leading into the courtyard of Pilton 
Range, where at that moment Mr. Blackstone the bailiff 
happened to be standing just outside his office door. He was 
a tall, grim-looking old man with iron-grey hair, and seemed 
to be leaning heavily on a thick stick he held in his right hand 
as if he was slightly lame. 

" ' I've brought un to see Mr. Blackstone,' said the per- 
spiring labourer, still holding Leroux in his grasp. 

" ' You young rascal, I'd like to lay this stick about your 
back,' said Mr. Blackstone, brandishing that formidable 
weapon in front of the captive. Then putting his left hand 
in his waistcoat pocket, he extracted a coin with his finger 
and thumb which Leroux thought was a two-shilling piece 
and offered it to his employee, remarking, ' Here's something 
for you, John ; I see you've had some trouble with this 
young rascal.' 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 37 

" Then addressing Leroux he said, ' Now, boy, I want 
your name.' The labourer received the proffered piece of 
silver in his left hand, but force of habit caused him, no 
doubt quite unconsciously, to release his hold of Leroux 
with his right hand at the same time in order to touch his 
cap to Mr. Blackstone in acknowledgment of his employer's 
generosity. On the instant that Leroux felt himself free 
he was round and through the great archway almost at a 
bound. 

" ' After him, John,' he heard the irate bailiff shout, 
and the discomfited labourer at once gave chase, but he 
stood no chance whatever of overtaking the active, well- 
trained boy, and when Leroux half broke, half jumped 
through the hedge at the bottom of the field below the Hall, 
he was pursued no further. After scrambling through the 
hedge and running in its shelter to the corner of the field 
he was then in, Leroux stood on the watch for some little 
time, and then feeling very elated at the way in which he 
had given the bailiff the slip, without letting him know 
his name, determined not to leave the Pilton Range ground 
without looking at the magpie's nest, he had been on his 
way to examine when first seized by the labourer. As he 
had expected he found that the nest contained a full comple- 
ment of eggs, which were that evening carefully blown 
and added to his collection, which was even then quite the 
best made by any boy in the whole school. On his many 
subsequent visits to the Pilton Range estate, Leroux took 
good care never to allow any labouring man he happened to 
see to get anywhere near him, nor did he ever renew his 
acquaintance with Mr. Blackstone. 

" Of all his birds'-nesting exploits, the one which Leroux 
himself always considered the greatest achievement was his 
raid on the Heronry at Tombe Abbey. Tombe Abbey was 
about fifteen miles distant from the big school, and it was 
during his second year of study there, that whilst rambling 
in that neighbourhood on a day when he had been excused 
from attending all ' callings over ' by his house-master, Leroux 
had noticed a number of her ons flying over the park in the midst 
of which the Abbey stood. He at once entered the sacred 



38 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

precincts to investigate, and soon discovered the Heronry 
situated on an island in the middle of a large sheet of orna- 
mental water. The twenty or thirty large nests of sticks 
were built as is always the case in England, high up in a 
grove of large trees growing on the island. Leroux watched 
the herons from amongst some bushes on the edge of the 
lake for some time and assured himself that there were 
young birds in most if not in all of the nests, as he could see 
their parents feeding them. To have swum across the 
lake to the island and then climb up to one or more of the 
nests in the hope of finding some eggs would therefore 
probably have been a bootless quest, and at that time 
perhaps Leroux would hardly have been able to have sum- 
moned up sufficient courage for such an undertaking, but 
all through the following months the idea of one day swim- 
ming to the island in the park at Tombe Abbey and taking 
some herons' eggs, grew in his mind, and when he returned 
to school after the following Christmas hoUdays, he had 
fully determined to make the attempt. Through reference 
to an ornithological work in his house-library Leroux had 
learned that herons are very early breeders, so he made his 
plans accordingly, and obtained leave from his house-master 
to be absent from all ' callings over ' on March 7th, and 
hurrying to the station as soon as his mathematical lesson 
was over at a quarter past ten in the morning, he took the 
first train to the nearest station to Tombe Abbey. It was a 
bitterly cold day with a dull sky and the wind in the east, 
and when, after making his way cautiously across the park, 
Leroux reached the shelter of the bushes on the edge of the 
lake, he found that there was a fringe of thin ice all round 
the water's edge. In one way, however, the cold dreary 
day was favourable to the boy's enterprise, as no one was 
likely to be out walking in the park. Under cover of the 
bushes Leroux stripped himself to the skin, and without 
any hesitation waded into the ice-cold water, until it became 
deep enough to allow him to swim. At this time he was 
probably the best swimmer in the whole school, for during 
his first year and when only fourteen years of age he had won 
the second prize in the annual swinnning-match, and would 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 39 

certainly have taken the first prize the following year, but 
for some reason or other there was no competition. In: his 
third year and a few months after his visit toTombe Abbey 
when the competition was again revived, he met .with an 
accident at cricket on the very morning of the race, which 
destroyed his chances of winning it. Once in the deep 
water of the lake, Leroux, swimming with a strong side- 
stroke, soon reached the island in the centre, and selecting 
the easiest tree to climb in which some of the herons' nests 
were built, naked as he was, he lost no time in getting up to 
them. There were four eggs in each of the two nests he 
actually inspected, and transferring these to an empty 
sponge-bag which he had brought with him, and which he 
now held in his mouth, he soon reached the ground again 
at the foot of the tree without having broken or even cracked 
a single egg. A hasty look round assured him that no one 
was in sight anywhere in the park, so still holding the 
sponge-bag containing the eight large blue eggs in his teeth, 
he soon recrossed the lake to the mainland, and then lost 
no time in pulling his clothes over his wet and shivering 
limbs. But though his teeth were chattering, Leroux's 
young heart was full of joy and exultation at the successful 
accomplishment of his enterprise, and he thought but little 
of his personal discomfort. Once dressed he soon reached 
the boundary of the park, and early in the afternoon was 
able to report himself to his house-master, though he did 
not think it necessary to enter into any details as to his 
day's ramble, and probably had it not been for the fact 
that the great Midland school at this time boasted a natural 
history society, of which Leroux was a prominent member 
as well as keeper of the ornithological note-book, the 
incident of the taking of the herons' eggs at Tombe Abbey 
might never have been known to anyone but a few of Leroux's 
most intimate friends. However, at the next evening meet- 
ing of the society, in the innocence of his heart Leroux 
exhibited the great blue eggs, the contemplation of which 
was still his chief joy. One of the undermasters, Mr. 
Kitchener, was that night in the chair, and this unprincipled 
pedagogue, after having obtained the admission from Leroux 



40 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

that he had taken the herons' eggs himself, required him in 
the most unsportsmanhke manner to state exactly when 
and where he had become possessed of them. All prevarica- 
tion was foreign to Leroux's nature, and when thus chal- 
lenged he did not hesitate to tell the story of his visit to 
Tombe Abbey, and how he had swum across the lake and 
climbed to the herons' nests stark naked on a cold day in 
early March. The hardihood of the exploit, however, made 
no appeal to the mean soul of Mr. Kitchener, who not only 
confiscated the herons' eggs on the spot, but ordered Leroux 
to write out the fourth Georgic of Virgil, a very common 
punishment at public schools in those days, as it runs to 
almost exactly 500 lines. Through the good offices of his 
own house-master the herons' eggs were given back to Leroux, 
but the story of his adventure became noised abroad, even 
beyond the confines of the school, as he was to discover a 
few months later, 

" Although Leroux had become the happy possessor of a 
saloon pistol, soon after his entrance to the school, he had 
never found this a very satisfactory weapon, and had deter- 
mined to possess himself of something better as soon as 
possible. He practised rifle-shootjng regularly at the butts, 
and in his third year shot in most of the matches for the 
school eleven, always doing very well at the longer ranges 
at which the boys were allowed to kneel or lie down, but 
faiUng rather at the 200 yards, at which range in those days 
even the youngest members of the rifle-corps were required 
to shoot standing with heavy Enfield rifles with a very hard 
pull. It was this excessively hard puU, combined with the 
weight of the long Enfield rifle, which made it so difficult 
for a young boy to shoot steadily standing at the 200 
yards' range. During the Easter holidays before his last 
term at the great school, Leroux bought with his savings, 
augmented by a Uberal present from his mother, a good 
pea-rifle with a detachable barrel, which could be concealed 
up the coat-sleeve of the right arm, whilst the stock was 
hidden under the coat on the other side of the body. But 
Leroux never used this rifle on private ground unless he 
was accompanied by a friend, so that in case of pursuit one 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 41 

boy could run with the barrel and the other with the stock. 
There was an old disused canal not far away from the school, 
on the property of a local landowner named Lowden Beigh, 
which was a favourite resort of Leroux and his friends on 
Sunday afternoons between dinner-time and afternoon 
chapel. In the still waters of this old canal bordered with 
beds of reeds and rushes, and in many places overspread 
with waterhUes, pike were always to be found on a hot 
summer's day, not exactly basking in the sun, but lying 
motionless in the water, not more than a few inches from 
the surface, and Leroux had discovered that the concussion 
caused by a bullet fired into the water in the immediate 
vicinity of these fish, even though it did not touch them, 
was sufficient to stun them and cause them to float helpless 
for a short time belly upwards on the top of the water, 
from which they could be retrieved with a long stick. The 
pike which were obtained in this way were, however, be it 
said, always of small size. This old canal too swarmed with 
moorhens which afforded excellent practice with the little 
rifle. It was on a hot Sunday afternoon in late June, that 
Leroux and a great friend of his, a very tall boy who had 
somewhat outgrown his strength, paid what proved to be 
their last visit to the canal. As it so happened, where they 
first struck the canal they had only seen some very small 
pike not worth shooting at and only one shot had been fired 
at a moorhen, which had missed its mark. However, there 
was a better hunting ground beyond the bridge where the 
high road crossed the old canal, and this they proceeded to 
make for. Before entering the last field which lay between 
them and the high road, the little rifle was taken to pieces, 
and Leroux then hid the stock under the left side of his 
coat, his companion, whose arms were longer than his, 
concealing the barrel up his right coat-sleeve. The two 
boys then strolled leisurely along the bank of the canal, 
towards the gate which opened into the high road just below 
the bridge. They were close to this gate, in fact almost 
touching it, when a gamekeeper, in velveteen coat and 
gaiters, suddenly appeared from behind the hedge on the 
other side of it and stood confronting them. 



42 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" ' Well, young gents,' he said, ' what have you been 
doing along the canal ? ' 

" ' We've been looking for cuckoos' eggs in the reed 
warblers' nests,' said Leroux readily, and it was indeed a 
perfectly true answer, though it did not cover the whole 
scope of their operations. 

" ' Well, I must have your names. Mr. Lowden Beigh^ 
means to put a stop to you young gents trespassing on his 
ground every Sunday,' said the gamekeeper, pulling out a 
pocket-book and pencil to take them down in. Leroux and 
his friend at once gave their names, and told the keeper 
how to spell them, for they knew that even if they were 
reported to the headmaster, that good old sportsman would 
not be likely to inflict any punishment on them for merely 
strolling quietly along the bank of the old canal on a Sunday 
afternoon, even though they had been trespassing on the 
property of Mr. Lowden Beigh. 

" Having given up their names to the keeper the two boys 
proceeded to climb over the gate into the high road, and 
considering what they carried hidden under their coats, 
this was a somewhat ticklish operation. 

" Leroux was nearest to the keeper, and having his right 
arm free probably got over the gate without arousing any 
suspicion in the man's mind, but the latter probably noticed 
the unusual stiffness of the tall boy's right arm when he 
was getting over the gate, though he did not immediately 
grasp the cause of it. However, the probable meaning of 
it must soon have flashed across his mind, for the boys had 
not walked twenty yards down the road when they heard 
him say, ' Darned if ye ain't got one o' they little guns 
with ye.' They heard no more. ' Come on,' said Leroux, 
and the two boys dashed off down the road at their best 
pace, closely pursued by the keeper, who though middle- 
aged was a spare-made, active-looking fellow. It was a 
very hot day and the two boys were in their Sunday clothes 
and wearing top-hats, and handicapped with the rifle, the 
barrel of which was rather heavy. Still at first they gained 
on the keeper, and at the end of a quarter of a mile had 

1 Mr, Boushton Leiffh. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 43 

increased the distance between him and them to quite 
fifty yards, when suddenly they came ahnost face to face 
with old ' Froddy,' the great headmaster himself, who had 
just emerged from a lane into the high road. With his 
head held high in the air and his hat on the back of his 
head, he came striding along all alone, at a pace of at least 
four miles an hour. His thoughts were evidently far from 
the earth he trod, and probably he never saw the boys at 
all, but they instantly recognized him. 

" ' Old Froddy, by Jove ! ' ejaculated Leroux ; ' come on 
through the hedge,' and without an instant's hesitation he 
dashed at and broke his way into the field to the right of 
the road, his friend scrambling through the gap he had 
made in the hedge close behind him. The boys were now 
in a large grass field across which they started to run 
diagonally, the keeper following doggedly behind them, 
though when they gained the further corner of the field he 
was nearly a hundred yards behind them. As they chmbed 
the gate into the next field Leroux 's tall young friend was 
panting painfully, and before they were half-way across it 
he said he would not be able to run much further with the 
rifle-barrel. There v/as a large hayrick in the far corner of 
this field, so Leroux urged his companion to try and carry 
the rifle-barrel as far as there and then throw it down 
behind the rick, just as they passed it, and were for the 
moment hidden from the keeper. Leroux who was com- 
paratively fresh and whom the keeper would never have 
caught, still stuck to the stock of his rifle, and intended to 
return for the barrel the next day, which happened to be 
one of the three-weekly Monday half -holidays. He did not 
think there would be much chance of its discovery before 
then. However, as bad luck would have it, and by an 
extraordinary chance, the gamekeeper saw it as he passed 
the rick. He had probably turned to look behind him, 
thinking that possibly the boys had run round the rick, and 
must have seen the gHnt of the sun on the barrel. The boys 
had not got very far over the next field before they heard 
the gamekeeper shouting, and on turning his head Leroux 
saw that he was standing near the gate waving something 



44 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

over his head, which as it glinted and flashed in the sun he 
knew was the barrel of his rifle. It was no good running 
any further, the keeper had their names and half the rifle, 
so they walked back to him and Leroux had to surrender the 
other half. 

Now Leroux had great affection for this, his first rifle, 
and hated the idea of having it confiscated, so he tried to 
make terms with the keeper, and offered to give him all 
the money he could afford, if he would return him the rifle, 
and be content to report him and his friend for trespassing. 
The keeper refused this bribe with much apparent indigna- 
tion, saying that no amount of money that might be offered 
to him would tempt him to swerve from his duty, which 
was to take the rifle straight to his master, Mr. Lowden 
Beigh. So the two boys walked slowly and sadly back to 
the school, arriving there just in time for the afternoon 
service in the chapel, which, however, did nothing to cheer 
them. 

" Every day during the following week Leroux expected 
to be summoned to the headmaster's study and taxed with 
trespassing with a rifle on Mr. Lowden Beigh's land. But 
at the end of this time, as nothing happened, he felt con- 
vinced that the keeper had never given up the little rifle to 
his master at all, but had kept it himself, in the hope of 
being able to dispose of it for more money than had been 
offered him for its return. At any rate Leroux determined 
to write to Mr. Lowden Beigh, tell him exactly what had 
happened, and ask him to let him have the rifle back again 
at the end of the term. This he did, and the following day 
received an answer requesting him to call at the Hall with 
the friend who was with him when the rjfle was taken, on 
the following Sunday afternoon. The two boys complied 
with this request and they were very kindly entertained 
and treated to wine and cake by Mr, Lowden Beigh. He 
asked Leroux if it was he who had taken the herons' eggs 
at Tombe Abbey, and when he admitted that it was, said, 
' Why, you're the biggest poacher in the school.' He then 
told the boys that the keeper had never said a word to him 
about the rifle, but that he had demanded it from him 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 45 

immediately on reading Leroux's letter, and then dismissed 
the man from his service. Finally, Mr. Lowden Beigh told 
Leroux that if he would again come to the Hall, the day 
before the big school broke up at the end of the term, he 
would return him his rifle, and this promise he faithfull}'^ 
kept, 

" It was whilst he was at home during the Christmas 
holidays immediately preceding the commencement of his 
second year at the great Midland school, that John Leroux, 
then just fifteen years of age, was an eye-witness of, and 
indeed, a participant in, the terrible disaster on the ice in 
Regent's Park, which took place on January 15th, 1867. 

" At that time he was living with his parents at no great 
distance from the scene of the accident, of which he wrote 
an account to a school friend whilst the events related were 
still fresh in his memory. 

" As a result of a long-continued frost, the ice on the 
ornamental water in the park had become excessively 
thick, and during the early part of January, 1867, thousands 
of people might have been seen skating there daily. At 
length, however, a thaw set in, and as the ice became 
gradually more rotten in appearance, the skaters rapidly 
decreased in numbers. 

" On the day of the accident Leroux went to the park 
alone after lunch, and on his arrival at the ornamental water, 
found that the ice had been broken all round the shore of 
the lake by the men employed by the Royal Humane 
Society, with the object of preventing people from getting 
on to the ice. At the same time several servants of the 
Society were doing their best to persuade the more adven- 
turous spirits who had got on to the ice by means of planks, 
to leave it. At that time there were probably not more 
than three or four hundred people on the whole expanse 
of the ornamental water. At least they appeared to be very 
thinly scattered over it, compared with the crowds of a few 
days before, when the ice was sound and strong, before the 
thaw had set in. 

" Having come to the park to skate, and being perhaps 
of a somewhat self-willed and adventurous disposition, 



46 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Leroux put on his skates, and watching his opportunity, 
got on to the ice, which though quite three inches in thick- 
ness, was seamed in every direction with a multipHcity of 
cracks, through which the water constantly welled up and 
ran over the surface. It was indeed evident that the solid 
ice-slab with which the lake had been originally covered 
was now formed of innumerable small pieces, really inde- 
pendent one of another, but still fitting closely together 
like the sections of a child's puzzle after they have been 
put in their places. Leroux himself never doubted that it 
was the breaking of the ice for the space of three or four 
feet all round the shores of the lake, which allowed room 
for the cracks in the unbroken ice gradually to widen until 
at last the whole sheet broke into separate pieces. As the 
skaters passed to and fro upon it, the whole surface of the 
ice-sheet seemed to rise and sink in response to their passage, 
and every moment the gaps gaped wider. 

" It was getting on towards four o'clock in the afternoon, 
and Leroux was just then right jn the middle of the lake, 
midway between the largest island and the bridge leading 
towards the Park Road, when he heard a cry behind him, 
and looking round saw that the ice was breaking in the 
direction of the bridge. It was a sight which he never 
forgot. Right across the whole breadth of the lake the 
sections into which the ice-sheet had been divided by the 
cracks were disengaging themselves one from another. 
The line of breaking advanced steadily towards where the 
boy was standing, each separate section of ice as the pres- 
sure was removed from behind, first breaking loose, and 
after being tilted into the air, again falling fiat into its place. 
As no one fell into the water when the ice first broke 
up, the pressure which was the immediate cause of the 
catastrophe must have been exerted from a distance, and 
it was probably the weight of the people on the ice some 
way off which caused it to bulge where it first broke to 
such an extent as to detach some of the smaller sections 
which were already really separated one from another by 
the ever-widening cracks. 

" There was a regular panic amongst the comparatively 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 47 

small number of people between Leroux and the point near 
the bridge where the ice first commenced to break up, 
and they all went flying along as fast as their skates would 
carry them, straight down the centre of the lake towards 
the narrow channel between the two islands in front of 
them. At the same time there was a stampede for the 
shore from every part of the lake, and as the great bulk of 
the people then on the ice were near the edge when it so 
suddenly commenced to break up, most of them either 
got to land without assistance, or being caught in the break- 
ing ice when within a rope's throw of the shore, were subse- 
quently rescued ; but every one who got into the water 
amongst the thick heavy ice-slabs at any distance from the 
shore was drowned, and most of these unfortunate people 
disappeared immediately beneath the heavy slabs of ice, 
between which they fell into the water, and which closed 
over them at once. 

" When the ice first began to break up, Leroux could not 
help standing still for a few moments, and watching the 
rapidly advancing line of breakage, and then when he turned 
to run for it or rather skate for it, he was quite alone, and 
at some little distance behind the crowd of people who 
had first taken the alarm. Suddenly there was a wild, 
despairing cry ahead, and Leroux saw that the ice was 
breaking up in the narrow channel between the two islands. 
At this juncture many people undoubtedly lost their heads 
as they skated right into the broken ice and almost all of 
them at once disappeared. It was between the two islands 
that the greatest loss of Hfe occurred, as of the forty-nine 
bodies subsequently recovered in different parts of the 
lake, twenty-four were found in close proximity to one 
another at this spot, and yet there was scarcely a head to 
be seen at the time of the accident above the broken ice, as 
the weight of the heavy slabs forced those who feU in 
between them under water almost immediately. Although 
he was only a boy of fifteen at this time, he had never missed 
a chance of falling through weak or rotten ice every winter 
since he first went to school, and these various experiences 
had no doubt given him a good deal of self-confidence. At 



48 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

any rate he felt neither frightened nor flurried by the some- 
what alarming circumstances of the position in which he 
now found himself, but quickly made up his mind as to the 
best course to adopt to save his life. As the ice had already 
broken up both before and behind him, but was still solid 
immediately behind him he stopped short where he was, 
and lay down at full length on the longest piece of ice he 
could see which was free from widely open cracks. He had 
scarcely done so, when the wave of breakage which had 
commenced near the bridge passed him, all the great cracks 
with which the ice-sheet was seamed opening to such an 
extent that every separate slab became detached. Many 
of these slabs were first tilted a little into the air, as had 
happened when the ice first broke up near the bridge, 
but they immediately fell flat again into their places, so 
that the whole of the ice-sheet in the central part of the 
ornamental water seemed to be in one piece, though in 
reality the cracks which divided it into innumerable small 
slabs were now so wide that each piece was independent 
the one of the other, and most of them would not have been 
large enough to support the weight of a man standing near 
their edge, without heeling over and precipitating him into 
the water. 

" Fortunately for Leroux the ice had not been broken 
round the edge of the largest island in the lake to his left, 
and although the cracks had opened all round where he lay, 
as the wave of breakage passed, to such an extent as to have 
made it impossible to have walked or skated across the dis- 
integrated slabs, without tilting one or other of them, 
and so falling into the water, yet he was only a short distance 
from the unbroken ice-sheet which rested on the island. 
The slab on which he was lying was quite large enough to 
bear his weight easily, and as he was out of all danger for 
the time being, he was able to look around and note what 
was going on. Directly the ice broke up there was, of course, 
tremendous excitement on the shore of the lake nearest the 
Zoological Gardens, where great crowds of people had been 
congregated the whole afternoon. Many gallant and success- 
ful attempts were made to rescue those who were fighting 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 49 

for life amongst the ice-slabs ; but Leroux's impression was 
that no one was saved who had got into the water at any 
considerable distance from the shore. At the spot where 
the largest number of people were drowned, almost every- 
one who fell into the water disappeared immediately. 
Still here and there men kept their heads above water for 
a long time, and all these poor fellows might have been 
rescued, had it not been for the breaking of a rope. It was 
soon realized that it would be quite impossible to save the 
people who were so far out amongst the ice that a rope 
could not be thrown to them from the shore except by some 
special means, and someone hit upon the idea of dragging 
a boat to them over the ice. Leroux saw the boat pulled 
up over the still unbroken ice beyond the bridge, and long 
ropes were then made fast to its bow and carried over the 
bridge to each side of the lake, where willing hands enough 
were ready to work them. Had the ropes only held, the 
boat might have been pulled from one side or the other of 
the lake to all those who were in the water amongst the ice- 
slabs at a distance from the shore ; but unfortunately before 
the boat had been pulled far beyond the bridge one of the 
ropes broke, and as it was then apparently recognized that 
they were not strong enough to stand the strain required, 
the experiment was not tried again. There were only two 
men in the water anywhere near Leroux, and they were 
about half-way between where he lay and the shore of the 
lake. He had seen them at first tr3^ng to force their way 
through the ice, but the slabs were so thick and heavy that 
they threatened at every moment to turn over on them, 
and they soon became exhausted and remained quiet. At 
last one of them disappeared and not long afterwards only 
a hat on the ice remained to mark the spot where his com- 
panion in misfortune had also sunk. Leroux soon realized 
that there was no hope of rescue from the shore, and indeed 
amidst all the excitement of saving or attempting to save 
the lives of those who had got into the water within reach 
he had probably been overlooked or possibly his position 
had been considered hopeless. 

" At length when the light was commencing to fade 



50 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Leroux made up his mind to try and reach the island on 
his left by crawling from one slab of ice to another. He fully 
realized that if he once got into the water he would never 
get out, but not being very heavy in those days, and by 
moving only very slowly and cautiously, and carefully 
selecting his route he succeeded at last in reaching the un- 
broken ice near the island. He had one very narrow escape, 
as a table of ice very nearly turned over on him before he 
had got sufficiently far on it to keep it flat. Luckily there was 
a much larger slab just beyond it, on to which he crawled 
without much difficulty. After crossing the island he again 
got on to unbroken ice and skated across it, to the shore 
near the lower bridge. 

" By that time it was rapidly growing dusk, everybody 
whom it had been possible to reach with a rope from the 
shore had been rescued, and all the rest were still and cold 
beneath the ice. But although Leroux knew that a con- 
siderable number of people must have been drowned, until 
he saw the long list of those who had lost their lives in the 
next morning's ' Times ' he had no idea that the disaster 
was so serious as it really was." 

The following reminiscences of Selous as a schoolboy at 
Rugby were contributed to the ' Meteor,' the Rugby school 
paper (February 7th, 1917), by Canon Wilson, d.d. : — 

" I first heard of Selous some time in 1863, soon after I 
became a house-master. The master of his preparatory 
school at Tottenham told me that a Mr. Slous — for so the 
name was then spelt — was going to enter his son at my 
house. ' Take my advice,' was the gist of the letter, ' and 
say your house is full ; the boy will plague the life out of 
you.' I wrote to enquire the nature of the plague. ' He 
breaks every rule ; he lets himself down out of a dormitory 
window to go birds'-nesting ; he is constantly complained 
of by neighbours for trespassing ; he fastened up an assistant 
master in a cowshed into which he had chased the young 
villain early one summer morning ; somehow the youngster 
scrambled out, and fastened the door on the outside, so that 
the master missed morning school.' 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 51 

" Such were his crimes ; so, of course, I wrote back and 
said that he was the boy for me. 

" His father brought him down from town, a bright-eyed, 
fair-haired boy of twelve or thirteen, who had no suspicion 
that I knew all about his iniquities. When his father de- 
parted, I had a little of the usual talk with a new boy, 
about work and games and so on ; and then I asked him 
what he meant to be. 'I mean to be like Livingstone,' he 
replied. I had seen Livingstone when he came to Cam- 
bridge, in 1857, I think, and spoke in the Senate House, 
appealing for a Universities Mission to Central Africa ; so 
we talked Livingstone and Africa, and Natural History. 
I soon saw that he had the fire and the modesty of genius 
and was a delightful creature. 

" He was quite exemplary as a young member of the 
House and School, so far as I knew. He was ' late ' for 
chapel sometimes in long summer afternoons ; how much 
late I did not inquire. I guessed what he was about and he 
did his lines like a man. 

" He was extraordinarily acute in all his senses — sight, 
hearing, smell, taste. He asked me, for example, one day to 
some brook a few miles away to watch kingfishers. We 
crawled up warily when we got near the spot. He could 
see exactly what they were catching and carrying, from a 
distance at which I could only see a bird flying. His power 
of hearing was also more than acute. One day at our table 
in hall I told a lady who sat next me that a nightingale had 
been heard singing in somebody's spinney. We decided to 
drive down to it after dinner, and on reaching the spot, we 
found Selous already there, roaming about in the spinney. I 
called to him, and he came to the edge of the wood. ' What 
are you doing there ? ' ' Looking for a nightingale's nest, 
sir.' ' But why here ? ' 'I heard you say at dinner that 
one was singing here.' Now he was sixteen or eighteen feet 
away, at a different table, and we were fifty in hall, talking 
and clattering with knives and forks. And yet he heard 
me distinctly. He could disentangle the voices, and listen 
to one, as a dog can follow one scent among many. Then 
as to smell and taste. He told me that when he shot a new 



52 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

bird with his ' tweaker ' — you will learn presently what the 
' tweaker ' was in his case — he always tasted its flesh. 

" He was extremely accurate in his observation, and in his 
estimates of distance, size, number, etc.; in fact, he was 
the most truthful observer I can imagine ; free from all 
exaggeration and egotism, and he retained this simplicity 
and accuracy and modesty all his life. He was a beautiful 
runner, a football-player with singular dash and a first-rate 
swimmer ; but he left Rugby at seventeen, I think, so that 
he did not win any great athletic distinctions at school. 

" But I must tell you some stories about him. 

" On some great public occasion of rejoicing the streets 
of Rugby were decorated with flags. When my man called 
me at 7.0 a.m., he said, ' I think I ought to tell you, sir, 
that there is a broomstick and duster showing in every 
chimney in the house.' ' Very well,' I replied, ' go and tell 
Mr. Selous that they must be taken down by 12 o'clock.' 
He had let himself down at night out of the dormitory 
window that looks into the study quadrangle and had 
collected brooms and dusters from the studies. He had 
somehow clambered up waterpipes and gutters and roofs, 
broomsticks and all ; and when I went out people in the 
road were admiring our extemporized decorations — duster 
flags and broom-handles sticking out of the chimney pots 
at all angles. There was another flag, of the same nature, 
perilously near the top of the taller of two poplars that 
stood close to the boys' entrance. They were all taken 
down by dinner-time ; I never enquired how, or by whom. 

" There used to be a vine, trained up the south face of 
the house, and one year, I think in 1868, it bore an extra- 
ordinary crop of grapes which ripened beautifully. One 
day at dinner I told the head of the dormitory on the second 
floor, over the drawing-room, that they might gather all 
that they could reach from the window. I forgot Selous 
as this was not his bedroom, but the dormitory did not 
forget him. An aunt of mine was sleeping in the bedroom 
below, and she remarked next morning at breakfast that 
she heard, or thought she heard, voices at night quite close 
to her windows. Had anything happened ? I went out 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 53 

into the garden to look, the vine was stripped more than 
half-way down the windows of the first floor. It was Selous, 
of course ; they let him down somehow. I was told that 
he filled a pillow-case with grape-bunches, and feasted the 
House. Mr. C. K. Francis, the well-known Metropolitan 
Police Magistrate, his contemporary in my house, has told 
this story of Selous to the readers of the ' Daily Telegraph ' 
(January 15th), and says that they let Selous down in a 
blanket. 

" Of course Selous was an active member of the School 
Natural History Society. I must tell you about a meeting 
of that Society. Dr. Walter Flight, who was in charge of 
the minerals of the British Museum, was staying with me, 
and I asked him whether he would like to come as a visitor 
to an ordinary meeting of our Society. I knew it would be 
an interesting one. Selous had shortly before raided the 
heronry on the island at Coombe Abbey. He swam the 
pond from the end distant from the house, climbed several 
trees, took one egg from each nest, swam back and was 
chased, but escaped by sheer speed. Lord Craven com- 
plained to the H.M. The H.M. warned our Society pretty 
plainly, and our committee censured Selous. At the meet- 
ing we were going to attend, Selous, as was widely known, 
was going to make his defence. The room, the old Fifth 
Form Room, next to the School House Dining HaU, was 
crowded. FUght and I squeezed in. ' Are your meetings 
always like this ? ' he asked. ' You will see,' I replied, 
' that the school takes a great interest in natural history.' 
* I am very glad to see this,' he said. 

" Exhibits were made, a paper read, and then began the 
real business of the evening — the official condemnation by 
our president, Mr. Kitchener, and Selous' spirited defence. 

" Selous presented the eggs to the Natural History 
Society, and they were safe in the collection twenty years 
ago, I am told. I hope they are there still. 

" He also climbed the great elm trees, which then stood 
in the close, for rooks' eggs. This feat was also performed 
at night, and the cawing of the rooks roused Dr. Temple,, 
but Selous was not detected in the darkness. 



54 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" Selous' special contribution to our Society was on birds. 
If I remember right his first list of birds noted at Rugby 
exceeded ninety. I will tell the story how one very rare 
bird was added to our list. It was in the very hard winter 
of 1867 ; snow was lying on the ground. In the evening, 
some hours after lock-up a ring at the front door came at 
the moment I was going to my study, the door of which is 
close to the front door. I opened the front door and there 
stood Selous, with a bird dangUng from his hand. I don't 
know which of us was most surprised. ' Come in to the 
study ; what have you got there ? ' ' Oh, sir, it's William- 
son's duck ; it's very rare.' (I invent the name Williamson, 
I know it was somebody's duck.) ' Go and fetch the bird- 
book from the House Library.' (I had put an excellent 
bird-book in several volumes into the Library for his use.) 
' Leave the bird.' I examined the bird, neatly shot through 
the neck. He was quite right, a note in the book said that 
it had been occasionally seen at certain places on the East 
coast ; only once, I think, inland as far as Northampton- 
shire. ' How did you get it ? ' 'I saw it at Swift's and 
followed it to Lilbourne and got it there.' ' How ? ' ' With 
my tweaker,' was the reply. ' It must be a very powerful 
tweaker ? ' I said. ' Yes, sir, it's a very strong one ; I 
thought you would not mind my being late for once, as it's 
very rare.' 

" Some six years later, when he came back from a four 
years' sohtary travel and exploration in what is now called 
Rhodesia, or even further inland, this incident of the 
tweaker turned up. ' I did wonder,' he said, ' whether you 
were such an innocent as really to beUeve it was a tweaker.' 
' My dear Selous,' I said, ' I knew the bird was shot, and I 
knew you had a gun, and the farmhouse where you kept it, 
but you kept it so dark and made such excellent use of it 
that I said nothing about it.' 

" One of the most difficult problems presented to all 
who are in authority is : how much ought I not to know 
and see ? 

" I think it was on this occasion that he came down to a 
house-supper. He had told me lots of stories about his 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 55 

adventures in Africa during those four years. They are 
told in his books, every one of which is, I hope, in the 
School Library and well read I asked him to tell some of 
them to the house. No he would not ; so finally at the 
supper, I said that if he would not, I would, and I began 
with the story of his going to ask Lobengula, King of the 
Matabele, for leave to shoot elephants. ' You are only a 
boy,' the King said. ' You must shoot birds. The first 
elephant you hunt will kill you.' Selous jumped up. ' Oh, 
sir, let me tell it,' and we had a never-to-be-forgotten 
evening. 

" But it is time to stop. One of his friends. Sir Ralph 
Williams, well said of him in a letter in ' The Times,' of 
January loth, ' The name of Fred Selous stands for all 
that is straightest and best in South African story,' and I 
will venture to say that it stands for the same in Rugby 
annals. " J. M. Wilson. 

" Worcester, 22 January, 1917." 

In August, 1868, at the age of seventeen, Selous left Rugby 
and went to Neuchatel, in Switzerland, where he lived at 
the " Institution Roulet." He spent his time learning 
French and the viohn and commenced his studies to be a 
doctor, for which profession he evinced no enthusiasm. 
Writing to his mother in November, he says : — 

" As for my future medical examinations I don't know 
how I shall come off ; I do not want particularly to be a 
doctor, but I shall go in for that as I can't see anything else 
that I should like better, except sheep-farming or some- 
thing of that sort in one of the colonies, but I suppose I 
must give up that idea ; however, if I become a surgeon 
I do not intend to try and get a practice in England, but I 
should try and get a post as ship's surgeon, or army surgeon 
in India, if I could get any leave of absence which would 
give me a little time to myself, but anyhow I am certain I 
shall never be able to settle down quietly in England. You 
talked about me being at an age of irresponsibility, but I 
don't see that I am, as supposing I don't manage to learn 
these infernal languages (why was anyone fool enough to 



56 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

build the tower of Babel ?) everyone will be disgusted with 
me." 

In December there was more talk of his going to Dresden 
to learn German, but he himself voted for Wiesbaden as 
being more of a country district where he would have more 
opportunities for shooting and fishing. After a short visit 
home his father took him to Wiesbaden in the spring of 
1869, when he wrote to his sister " Locky " : — 

" Many thanks for your spiritual letter which almost 
tempts me to commit suicide ; if I can't get good shooting 
and fishing in this world I'll have it in the next, if what 
the Chinaman says is true ; but by hook or by crook I 
will have some in this world too, and make some rare 
natural history collections into the bargain. But lirst I 
must make a little money, but how ? not by scribbling away 
on a three-legged stool in a dingy office in London. I am 
becoming more and more convinced every day that I should 
never be able to stand that and everybody I know or have 
ever had anything to do with says the same thing. I have 
a great many qualifications for getting on in one of our 
colonies, viz. perseverance, energy, and a wonderfully good 
constitution. What makes me recur to the old subject is 
this : I have made the acquaintance of a family here of 

the name of K . I always forget their name although I 

know them intimately. This gentleman, a German from 
Brunswick, has been twenty years in Natal (where he made 
his fortune) and since then eight years in England, and now 
has become regularly English (speaking Enghsh, indeed, 
without the slightest accent) . His wife is an Englishwoman 
who was born in the Cape Colony, but has always lived with 
him in Natal ; and then he has a very large family. These 
people give the most splendid accounts of Natal. Firstly, 
they say that the climate is superb, there being no winter 
and it not being so hot in summer as in Germany. Then 
they say that the country is lovely beyond description. 
They do not praise Cape Colony, only Natal, which they 
describe as a perfect paradise. They say, too, that Natal 
itself is a wonderfully gay place and that the society there 
is very good. The wife says she can't stand Europe at aU, 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 57 

the climate is so detestable compared with that of Natal. 
She says that she often used to go for weeks and weeks up 
country with her husband and children on shooting excur- 
sions, sleeping out in tents all the time, and that taking into 
consideration the beautiful climate and country there is 
no enjoyment equal to it, and I am fully of her opinion. 
They travelled once three days with Dr. Livingstone, but 
you will hear all about it from them when you come over 
here." 

He arrived at Wiesbaden in September and took up his 
residence with Herr Knoch, who lived in the Roderallee. 
In December he met the Colchester family, with whom he 
became great friends. 

At this time he enjoyed the music every afternoon at the 
Kursaal, and was amused in the evening to see the gambling 
that went on. One night a Russian lost 100, 000 francs. "What 
an April fool ! " is Selous' only comment. He had at this 
time a nice dog named Bell, to whom he was much attached. 
He is always writing for trout-flies, or books on sport or 
natural history. " I wouldn't care to go to Rome and see 
the Holy Week, but I should like to go to Russia, Sweden, 
or some other country where some shooting or fishing is to 
be had, but I must be patient and make some money, 
though I don't know how. Yesterday I went down to the 
Rhine, after my German and music lessons, but only brought 
back three small fish. A few days ago an officer was shot 
dead in a duel at Mayence. Verdict, ' Serve him right.' " 

Miss Colchester thus recalls certain incidents of 
Selous' life at Wiesbaden. " As showing his sporting 
nature, I may mention that he swam the Rhine near Bie- 
brich to retrieve a wild duck he had shot for us. It was 
blocked with ice at the time, but that did not daunt him. 
One day we were all skating on the frozen waters of the 
Kursaal Gardens when the ice suddenly broke up and I 
was thrown into the deep water. Without a moment's 
hesitation Fred jumped in and supported me under the 
arms until help came. He was a dear boy and we all loved 
him." 



58 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Selous set himself to learn the language as thoroughly 
as he could in the time at his disposal, but the cold stud}^ of 
German verbs was hard for a boy of seventeen with the 
spring in his bones and the sun glinting on the forest oaks. 

When summer came young Selous spent all his spare 
time chiefly with his friend Colchester, roving the woods 
and opens in search of birds' -nests and butterflies. The 
woods in the neighbourhood of Wiesbaden were, as is usual 
in Germany, strictly preserved and, therefore, being for- 
bidden ground, offered an especial attraction to the young 
naturalist. On two of these forays he had been stopped 
and warned by a forester named Keppel, who though an 
oldish man was immensely active and powerful. From him 
Selous had several narrow escapes, but the day of reckoning 
was at hand. In the heart of the forest Selous had one day 
observed a pair of honey-buzzards, which being frequently 
seen afterwards about the same spot, he concluded must 
have a nest somewhere. These birds are somewhat un- 
common even in Germany, and Selous naturally longed to 
find the nest and take the eggs. At last one day he and 
Colchester found the nest on the top of a high fir tree, but 
on climbing up to it Selous observed that there were no 
eggs. A few days later the two marauders set off at dawn 
and again approached the nest, Colchester being left at the 
foot of the tree to keep watch. Selous was in the act of 
descending the tree when Keppel suddenly appeared and 
by his words and actions showed that he was in a furious 
rage. 

" Now I shall take you to prison," he roared, as he seized 
hold of the coat in which Selous had hidden the two eggs 
he had taken. 

By this time, however, the fighting spirit was aroused 
on both sides, for Selous had no intention either of being 
captured or resigning his treasures quietly. A fierce struggle 
ensued in which the coat was torn in half, when at last 
Selous, losing his temper, gave the old forester a right- 
hander on the jaw which dropped him like a felled ox. 

The boys were now alarmed and for a moment Selous 
thought he must have killed the man, but as he showed 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 59 

signs of recovering they took to their heels and ran home 
with all possible speed. Since complications were bound to 
follow Selous at once consulted a lawyer, who advised him 
to pack up his traps and leave Prussia. Accordingly he 
took the train and went to Salzburg in Austria, where he 
knew he would be beyond the power of German courts. 
Selous' chief sorrow over the unfortunate affair seems to be 
that he lost his rare eggs. 

Soon after he arrived at Salzburg Selous heard that his 
friend, Charley Colchester, who had escaped to Kronberg, 
but was followed and arrested, had been condemned to a 
week's imprisonment (without the option of a fine) for 
taking eggs on two occasions. 

" If I had been caught," writes Selous, " I should have got 
two or three months instead of a week's imprisonment, for 
both the lawyer and the Burgomaster to whom I spoke, 
said that the taking of eggs was but a small matter in the 
eyes of Prussian law compared with resisting an official." 

The Austrian with whom he lived at Salzburg seems to 
have been a pleasant fellow named Rochhart, who had 
travelled much in Greece and America. Selous seems to 
have liked the genial Austrians far better than the Prussians 
and especially enjoyed the Tyrolese music and the butterfly 
hunting in the woods when the weather was fine. Writing 
to his mother (July 5th, 1870), he speaks of his enthusiasm 
as a collector : — 

" Why I feel the absence of the sun so very acutely is 
because, when the sun is not shining no butterflies, or none 
worth having, are to be got. Now this is just the time for 
the Purple Emperors, some specimens of which I want very 
much to get, and so I have been exceedingly provoked. I 
found out the place where the P.E.'s were to be found and 
for the last seven days I have been every day to that place 
(which is from five to six miles from Salzburg) and there I 
have waited from twelve to three, through rain and every- 
thing else, hoping and hoping for a passing sunbeam, as I 
could see them every now and then at the tops of the trees, 
and if the sun had but come out for a few minutes some of 
them would have been sure to have come down and settled in 



6o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the road. Well during all the hours of watching in those 
seven days the sun never, never, never broke through the 
clouds for one instant, and each day I returned home more 
disappointed and more indignant against providence than 
the day before. I think that if this sort of thing had con- 
tinued for another week I should have gone into a chronic 
state of melancholy and moroseness for the rest of my life, 
and people would have said, ' Ah, he must have had some 
great disappointment in early life.' These are the sort of 
things that rile me more than anything else, for you can't 
think how I put my whole soul into egg and butterfly col- 
lecting when I'm at it, and how I boil up and over with 
impotent rage at not being able to attain the object of my 
desires on account of the weather over which I have no 
control. However, perseverance can struggle against any- 
thing. This afternoon the sun shone out and I immediately 
caught two Purple Emperors {Apatura Iris), and two very 
similar butterflies unknown in England {Apatura Ilia), also 
a great many White Admirals {Limenitis Camilla) , not quite 
the same as the English White Admiral {Limenitis Syhilla), 
but very like ; all butterflies well worth having. If the 
weather will but continue line for a few days I will soon 
make some good additions to my collection, but it is hopeless 
work collecting butterflies in bad weather. I think I must 
be set down as a harmless lunatic by the peasants in the 
neighbourhood already." 

Selous was not long at Salzburg before he found an old 
chamois hunter and poacher, with whom he made frequent 
excursions into the neighbouring mountains. On one of 
these trips he killed two chamois, and the head of one of 
these is still in the museum at Worplesdon. 

The Franco-German war now began and Selous was greatly 
incensed that the general feeling in England was in favour 
of Prussia. 

" Vive la France, a bas la Prusse," he writes to his 
mother (July 22nd, 1870), " your saying the war is ' likely 
to become a bloody butchery through all the Christian 
nations of civilized Europe,' is rather a startler. Since this 
morning I have read all the Cologne and Vienna papers for 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 61 

the last week and you are most certainly several miles ahead 
of the most far-seeing and sanguinary politician, in either 
Austria or Prussia. You say that Bavaria has joined 
Prussia and Austria is likely to do so too. Bavaria cannot 
help itself or would not have joined Prussia. The Crown 
Prince of Prussia is in Munich with 15,000 Prussian troops, 
and the Bavarians are forced by treaty to aid Prussia or 
they would not do so. Prussia is the only power that is 
likely to take any part in the war at present. Austria most 
certainly will not interfere unless she is forced into it. And 
England and America are less likely still to do so. The post 
now goes to England by Trieste, by sea, of course, and sup- 
posing the war does become a bloody butchery through all 
the Christian nations of civilized Europe, an Italian passenger 
steamer would surely not be meddled with. Whatever 
happens, the war cannot come here, for there is nothing to 
be fought for in the Tyrol and no room to fight for it in the 
mountain valleys if there was. So that the route to Trieste 
and from thence to England will always be open. The people 
say that in 1866, when the war between Austria and Prussia 
was going on, they never knew anything about it here. As 
for the money, you can easily send a letter of credit to a 
bank in Salzburg or Munich and that difficulty would be got 
over. For several months at least it is not at all likely 
that any other nation will join either party, England least 
of all ; and supposing that England were drawn into it 
eventually, you would surely be able to tell long before war 
was declared if such was likely to be the case, and send me 
word, for the postal communications will not be stopped 
until then via Trieste. It seems to me most ridiculous to 
predict so much when so little is known. Unless you really 
think in your heart of hearts that it is necessary for me to 
come, please let me remain here a few months longer ; 
England taking part in the war is the only thing that can 
stop either letters or myself from reaching you, and surely 
you cannot tell me in cold blood that England is likely to 
be drawn into the war for months and months to come, at 
least all the Prussian papers declare most positively that it 
is not likely that either America or England will take any 



62 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

part in the war, and surely they as a party most intensely 
interested would say something about it if they thought 
that there was the slightest chance of England assisting, 
Gladstone, you know, will do his utmost to keep England 
neutral. Austria was almost ruined by the last war, but is 
now rapidly increasing in wealth and if drawn into the war 
would be utterly ruined, so that she will do her utmost to 
keep out of it. Why I so particularly wish to remain here 
a few months longer is because if I return to England all 
the money and time that has been wasted in zither at any 
rate, if not violin lessons, will have been utterly thrown 
away and I shall lose a pleasure and a pastime that would 
have lasted me my whole life. In three or four months 
more, as I am working very hard at it, I shall know enough 
of the zither to do without a master. The violin is all very 
well, but it is not an instrument that one derives much 
pleasure from playing unaccompanied, unless one plays 
extremely well, whereas the zither, like the piano, needs no 
accompaniment. The zither I have now is not the little 
one you saw at Wiesbaden, but an Austrian zither which 
is much larger and tuned lower, and altogether a finer 
instrument." 

He seems to have formed a very accurate estimate of the 
German character in war. Writing to his mother, October 
20th, 1870, he says : — 

" I have seen and spoken to several Bavarian soldiers 
in a village just beyond the Bavarian frontier, who were 
at Worth and Sedan, and who have been sent back on the 
sick list ; they say there is a great deal of sickness among the 
German troops, out of the 1000 men from the two villages 
of Schellenberg and Berchtesgaden who were all in the 
actions at Worth and Sedan, not a single one has as yet been 
killed, so I was told, though a great many have been wounded. 
I see a great deal said in the English papers about the 
' Francs tireurs ' being little better than murderers. I think 
that the French ought to consider all the soldiers composing 
the German armies as so many burglars, and shoot them 
down like rabbits in every possible manner ; and, moreover, 
as the Germans are murdering the peasants, men, women, 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 63 

and children, for such offences as being in possession of an 
old sword, in every direction, I think the French would be 
perfectly justified in shooting every German soldier they 
take prisoner. After the affair at Bazeilles, I don't believe 
any more in the humanity of the Germans." 

At this time Selous met an old Hungarian gentleman, 
who had large farms in Hungary, and offered to take him 
for two years to learn the business. But his father threw 
cold water on this project and told his son to remain at 
Salzburg until he had completed his German education. 
Accordingly he continued to reside there until June, 1871, 
when he went on a short visit to Vienna, of which he writes 
(June 17th, 1871) : — 

" I think I have seen everything that is to be seen in 
Vienna. The crown jewels, which I daresay you have seen, 
were very interesting and very magnificent. The Emperor's 
stables, too, I thought very interesting ; he has an immense 
number of horses, some of them very beautiful indeed. 
We found an English groom there who had almost forgotten 
his own language ; he had been away from England nine 
years, and so it is not to be wondered at, as I daresay he 
rarely speaks anything but German and never reads any- 
thing at all. The theatre in Vienna (I mean the new opera 
house) is most magnificent. It was only completed in 1868, 
so I don't suppose you have ever seen it. I believe it is 
acknowledged to be at present the finest theatre in the world. 
It is an immense size, almost as large as Covent Garden, 
and the decorations inside and out, and the galleries and 
everything appertaining to it are most beautiful and tasteful. 
We saw ' Martha,' ' Tannhauser,' and ' Faust ' there, and 
a little sort of pantomime entitled ' Flick and Flock.' I 
liked * Martha ' very much. They have a splendid tenor 
named Walter, who took the part of Lionel. I daresay you 
will hear him in London some day. I didn't like ' Tann- 
hauser ' very much ; I couldn't understand the story at all 
and there were no pretty airs in it. ' Faust ' was splendid, 
Marguerite and Faust were, I should think, as near per- 
fection as possible, and Mephistopheles was very good, 
though at first he gave me the impression of looking more 



64 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

like a clown than the devil. The scenery in all these pieces 
was splendid. ' Flick and Flock ' was exactly like an 
English pantomime with dumb show. The scenery was 
reall}' wonderful ; there were about half a dozen transforma- 
tion scenes, none of which would have disgraced a London 
stage on Boxing Night." 

In August he arrived home in England, and during the 
next three months he attended classes at the University 
College Hospital (London) to gain some knowledge of 
medical science preparatory to going to Africa. 




< 

H 

o 

O 

w 

H 






CHAPTER III 

1871-1875 

THERE are few of us whose early aspirations and 
subsequent acts are not influenced by literature. 
Some book comes just at the time of our life 
when we are most impressionable and seems exactly to fit 
in with our ideas and temperament. To this rule Selous 
was no exception, for he often admitted in after-life that 
the one book which definitely sent him to Africa and made 
him a pioneer and a hunter of Big Game, was Baldwin's 
" African Hunting from Natal to the Zambesi," published 
in 1864. Example in any line of adventure is recurrent, 
and especially so if the field of adventure js not spoilt by 
what we may call excessive " civilization." There have 
been, as it were, landmarks in the literature of African sport 
and travel, each book being more or less cumulative in its 
effect. Amongst books that mattered, perhaps the first 
was Burchell's fully-illustrated folio and the lesser writings 
of an English officer who hunted in the Orange Free State 
late in the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century. 
The works of these men incited Captain Cornwallis Harris 
to undertake an extensive trip as far as the Limpopo, He 
was a capable artist and an excellent writer, and pubUshed 
a magnificent folio describing his adventures and the natural 
history of the large mammals, which still commands a high 
price. He at once inspired many hunters to follow in his 
footsteps, and several of these, such as Roualeyn Gordon 
Gumming, William Cotton Oswell, Sir Francis Galton, and 
C. J. Anderson, wrote either books of great value or portions 
of standard works. Gordon Gumming did an immense 
amount of shooting' — far too much most people now think — 
but his volume, written in the romantic British style, is 
F 65 



56 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

one that will always remain a classic in the world of sporting 
literature. His tales of the game he saw or what he killed 
were not always accepted as true facts, but from all accounts, 
gathered from independent sources, it is now admitted that 
Gordon Gumming was a fearless hunter and did in the main 
accomplish all the principal exploits to which he laid claim. 
" Lake Ngami, or Explorations in South- Western Africa," 
by Gharles John Anderson, published in 1856, with some 
admirable early illustrations by Wolf, gives an account of 
the author's four years' wanderings (partly with Francis 
Galton) in the Western Wilderness, and is a truthful and 
excellent record of the Great Game in these districts at that 
time. Galton also published " Tropical Africa," but did 
not give much space to sport or natural history. Oswell, a 
great hunter and companion of Livingstone in many of his 
travels, also wrote in the last days of his life an admirable 
contribution to the " Badminton Library," which embodied 
an account of his life and adventures amongst the Great 
Game of South Africa in the forties. It is well illustrated 
by Wolf, the greatest painter of birds and mammals who 
ever lived. Other men of his date who were excellent 
hunters, who left no records of their lives, were Vardon, 
General Sir Thomas Steele, and Thomas Baines, who, with- 
out prejudice, did perhaps as much exploration, geographical 
work, painting, and hunting as any Afrikander of his time. 
Baines, I beUeve, really discovered the Falls of the Zambesi 
before Livingstone visited them, and no adequate tribute 
to the work of this remarkable man has ever appeared. 
The amount of maps he prepared of out-of-the-way corners 
of South Africa from the Zambesi northwards, was very 
great and his work was only known to the pioneers like 
Livingstone, Oswell, Selous and others who followed after 
him and made use of his industry. Baines, too, though 
almost uneducated, was a very capable artist and I think 
I must have seen at least two hundred of his paintings in 
oil. He liked to depict landscapes and wild animals. Whilst 
those of the latter were not above criticism, his views of the 
rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, and plains of the Free 
State, swarming with game, are a truthful record of the days 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 67 

that are no more, and will doubtless live in South African 
history when more ambitious, technically correct works 
are forgotten.^ 

After these sportsmen and writers came William Charles 
Baldwin, who wandered, primarily with the object of hunt- 
ing elephants, from Zululand to the Zambesi and west to 
Lake Ngami between the years 1852 and i860. His book 
" African Hunting and Adventure " was published in 1863, 
and was beautifully illustrated by Wolf and Zwecker. It 
was an immediate success and caused many, Uke Selous, 
to leave the ways of civilization and seek adventure in the 
wilds. Baldwin was an excellent and fearless rider (he 
rode in a steeplechase when he was seventy) and a good shot, 
and the accounts of his adventures could hardly have failed 
to make their impress on the minds of young men of the right 
kind, but, as he admits, the elephants were on the wane even 
in his day (he never succeeded in hunting in the main 
haunts in Matabeleland), so future travellers had to exploit 
new fields. 

On the 4th of September, 1871, Selous landed at Algoa 
Bay with £400 in his pocket. He went there determined 
to make his way into the interior and to lead the free hfe 
of the hunter as described by Gordon Gumming, Baldwin, 
and others. First he decided to go to the Diamond Fields, 
and left Port Elizabeth on September 6th with a young 
transport rider named Reuben Thomas, who conveyed him 
and his baggage for the sum of eight pounds. After a slow 
journey of nearly two months he reached his destination. 
On the road by hunting hard he had managed to kill " one 
bushbuck ram, one duiker, one springbuck, one klipspringer, 
and eight grey and red roebucks, all of which I carried on 
my own shoulders to the waggons." 

Most unfortunately, however, a valuable double breech- 
loading rifle with which he had been shooting was stolen 
on the day he reached Kimberley. Next day he bought a 
horse and rode over to Pniel. There he met Mr. Arthur 

1 There was an exhibition of Baines' collected works at the Crystal 
Palace some years ago, but few people took any notice of them. Baines 
published an excellent book " The Gold Regions of South-Eastern Africa " 
in 1877. 



68 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Lang, and on October 31st went with him on a trading trip 
through Griqualand, passing down the Vaal and Orange 
rivers. He found the Bechuanas an industrious race, " but 
they are the stingiest, most begging, grasping, and disagree- 
able set of people that it is possible to imagine." He was 
much disappointed to find the country so bare of game. 
" The great drawback was that there was no game whatever, 
not even springbucks, the Kafirs having hunted every- 
thing into the far interior, so that now there is more game 
within five miles of Cape Town than here, where we were 
more than 600 miles up country." The party returned to 
the Diamond Fields at the end of March and sold off their 
produce — cattle, goats, and ostrich feathers at a profit of 
about £100. 

Selous then set about his preparations for a journey into 
the far interior. From a trader he purchased a waggon, 
a span of young oxen, and five horses. A young fellow 
named Dorehill and a Mr. Sadlier then agreed to accom- 
pany him. The whole party seems to have been very badly 
armed with indifferent weapons. At the end of April, 1872, 
Selous and his two friends trekked north and only got as 
far as Kuruman, a delay of a fortnight being caused through 
the horses running away. Here Selous met Mr. William 
Wniiams, an experienced trader and hunter, from whom he 
purchased two unprepossessing-looking large-bore elephant 
guns as used by the Boer native hunters. Cheap as these 
guns were, about six pounds a-piece and using only common 
trade gunpowder, they were most effective weapons, for 
in three seasons with them (1872-1874) Selous killed seventy- 
eight elephants, all but one of which he shot whilst hunting 
on foot. He used to load them whilst running at full speed 
by simply diving his hand into a leather bag of powder 
slung at his side. " They kicked most frightfully, and in 
my case the punishment I received from these guns has 
affected my nerves to such an extent as to have materially 
influenced my shooting ever since, and I am heartily sorry 
I ever had anything to do with them." 

After a trying trek the party arrived at Secheli's in twenty 
days through more or less waterless country, but just before 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 69 

reaching these kraals an accident happened which might 
easily have cost Selous and Dorehill their lives. Selous was 
taking some cartridges from a box on the side of the waggon, 
in which was about a pound of loose gunpowder, when Dore- 
hill came up and dropped some ashes from his pipe into the 
box. An immediate explosion followed and both were 
badly burnt. Sadlier, however, rose to the emergency and 
" at once rubbed a mixture of oil and salt into our skinless 
faces ; it was not a pleasant process." After a visit to 
Secheh, who was a most completely civilized Kafir, Selous 
and his friends moved northward on the 28th June, with 
Frank Mandy, who was about to trade in the Matabele 
country. On the road to Boatlanarma they experienced 
great difficulties and were once three days and three nights 
without water. About the middle of August they left 
Bamangwato, where Selous purchased a salted horse. By 
exchanging his new waggon for a smaller second-hand one, 
a trade rifle and the horse itself valued at £75, he made 
a deal with a shrewd but uneducated Scotchman named 
Peter Skinner. Of course the new purchase ran away at 
the first opportunity, which delayed the party for another 
week. Near Pelatsi Selous had his first experience of real 
African hardship, and his subsequent account of being lost 
in the bush for four days and three nights, without covering 
except his shirt and breeches and without food or drink, is 
one of the most thrilling he ever wrote. ^ 

Selous and his comrades here met their first giraffes and 
proceeded to give chase. 

" After a time the giraffes separated, and suffice it to 
say that, at the end of an hour or so, I found myself lying 
on my back, with my right leg nearly broken, by coming 
violently into contact with the trunk of a tree ; and, on 
getting up and remounting my horse, not only were the 
giraffes out of sight, but nowhere could I see either of my 
two companions. Though, of course, my inexperience con- 
tributed much to the unsuccessful issue of this, my first 
giraffe hunt, yet I cannot help thinking that my horse also 
had a good deal to do with it, for, having been bred in the 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 15-23. 



70 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

open plains of the Transvaal Republic, he was quite at sea 
in the thick forests of the interior ; and if, when going at 
full gallop through a thick wood, you intend to pass on one 
side of a tree, but your horse, being of a different opinion, 
swerves suddenly and goes to the other, it is awkward, to 
say the least of it. 

" My first object was to rejoin my companions ; so, not 
having heard a shot, and imagining they must by this 
time have given up chasing the giraffes, I fired as a signal, 
and at once heard a shot in answer far to my right, and rode 
in that direction. After riding some distance I again pulled 
up, and shouted with all my might, and then, not hearing 
anything, fired another signal shot, but without effect. As 
my horse was very tired, I now off-saddled for a short time 
and then fired a third shot, and listened intently for an 
answer, but all was silent as the grave ; so, as the sun was 
now low, I saddled up again and struck a line for the waggon 
road, thinking my friends had already done the same thing. 
In this way I rode on at a slow pace, for my horse was tired 
and thirsty, keeping steadily in one direction till the sun, 
sinking lower and lower, at last disappeared altogether. 
I expected I should have reached the road before this, and, 
attributing my not doing so to the fact of the path having 
taken a turn to the right, still kept on till twilight had given 
place to moonlight — a fine bright moonlight, indeed, for it 
wanted but two nights to the full, but, under the circum- 
stances, perhaps a trifle cold and cheerless. Still, thinking 
I must be close to the road, I kept on for another couple 
of hours or so, when, it being intensely cold, I resolved to 
try and Hght a lire, and pass the night where I was and ride 
on again early the following morning. Having no matches, 
I had to make use of my cartridges, of which I had only three 
remaining, in endeavouring to get a light. Breaking one 
of these open, I rubbed some of the powder well into a bit 
of linen torn from my shirt, slightly wetted, and, putting 
it into the muzzle of the rifle, ignited it with the cap and a 
little powder left in the bottom of the cartridge. So far 
well and good, but this was, unfortunately, almost as far 
as I could get ; for, though I managed to induce some grass 



THE LIFE OF F C. SELOUS. 71 

to smoulder, I couldn't for the life of me make it flare, and 
soon had the mortification of finding myself, after two 
more unsuccessful attempts, just as cold and hungry as 
before, and minus my three cartridges to boot. Were the 
same circumstances to occur again, no doubt everything 
would be very different ; but at that time I was quite a 
tyro in all forest lore. It was now piercingly cold, though 
during the day the sun had been as hot as at midsummer 
in England — regular South African fashion. Still, I thought 
it better to pass the night where I was ; so, tying my horse 
to a tree, I cut a little grass with my pocket knife to lie 
upon, and turned in. My entire clothing consisted of a hat, 
shirt, pair of trousers, and veldt shoes, as I had ridden 
away from the waggon without my coat. However, lying 
on my back, with my felt hat for a pillow, I put the saddle 
over my chest and closed my eyes in the vain hope that I 
should soon fall asleep and forget my cares ; vain indeed, 
for the bitter cold crept in gradually and stealthily from my 
feet upwards, till I was soon shivering from head to foot as 
if my very life depended on it. After having worked hard 
at this unpleasant exercise for a couple of hours or more, 
watching the moon all the time, and cursing its tardy pace, 
I could stand it no longer ; so, getting up with difficulty — for 
I was regularly stiffened by the cold — I ran backwards and 
forwards to a tree at a short distance until I was again warm, 
when I once more lay down ; and in this manner the weary 
hours wore away till day dawned. During the night a couple 
of hyenas passed close to me, enlivening the silence with 
their dismal bowlings. I have often thought since that 
they must have been on their way to drink, perhaps at some 
pit or spring not far off ; how I wished that I had known 
where ! I wiU take this opportunity of saying that the howl 
of the African hyena is about the most mournful and weird- 
like sound in nature, being a sort of prolonged groan, rising 
in cadence till it ends in a shriek ; they only laugh when 
enjoying a good feed. 

" At first dawn of day I once more saddled up and rode 
in the same direction as before. My poor horse was so 
tired and thirsty that he would only go at a very slow 



72 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

pace ; so I didn't make much progress. On coming to a 
high tree I stopped and cUmbed up it, and looked about 
me to try and recognize some landmark. On every side 
the country was covered with forest, and in the distance 
were several low ranges of hills, yet nothing seemed familiar 
to my eye. Right ahead, in the direction in which I had 
been riding, appeared a line of densely wooded hills, with one 
single kopje standing alone just in front of them, and thither 
I determined to ride. On the way I passed three beautiful 
gemsbuck, which allowed me to come quite close to them, 
though they are usually very wild ; but they had nothing to 
fear from me, as I had no cartridges, and so could do nothing 
more than admire them. Thus I rode on and on, until the 
idea occurred to me that I must have ridden across the road 
(a mere narrow track) without noticing it in the moonlight, 
as I had constantly been star-gazing after the sun went 
down, so as to guide my course by the position of the 
Southern Cross. After a time, I at last felt so sure that this 
was the case, that I turned my horse's head to the right- 
about, and rode back again in the direction from which I 
had just come." 

He was now hopelessly lost but did not give way to 
despair, as so many in a similar position have done. Nothing 
but a level sea of forest surrounded him, so he turned his 
jaded horse to the setting sun in the west in the hope of 
again striking the road. After another night in the wilder- 
ness he awoke to find his horse gone. Far to the south-west 
was a line of hills and after walking without food or water 
till the moon rose, he reached the mountains. At sunrise 
he topped the crest of the range, hoping to see the maize 
fields of Bamangwato, but saw nothing. Worn out with 
thirst, fatigue, and hunger he started again at sunrise and 
at last at sundown he met two Kafirs who eventually took 
him to their kraal and gave him water and milk. 

" The next morning, as soon as it was light, accompanied 
by the Kafir who carried my rifle, I made a start, and, 
though very tired and worn out from privation, managed 
to reach the waggons late in the afternoon, after an absence 
of five days and four nights. How I enjoyed the meal that 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 73 

was hastily prepared for me, and how delightful it was to 
keep out the bitter cold with a couple of good blankets, I 
will leave the reader to conjecture." 

Of course, he lost his valuable salted horse, which although 
hobbled, found its way back to Bamangwato, But Selous 
could never claim it as he had sold his right to it to a Mr. 
Elstob at Tati. At Goqui he saw his first lions. Unfor- 
tunately he had fired a shot at two lionesses running away, 
when a fine lion with dark coloured mane stood up and 
offered him a splendid shot at 80 yards, but his rifle was 
empty, and as he had no dogs to follow the Hons when they 
had vanished, his first encounter with lions gave him much 
disappointment. At the end of August they reached Tati, 
and on leaving this place and passing the Ramaqueban 
river the following day, Selous says : " Here I first saw a 
sable antelope, one of the handsomest animals in the world," 
and anyone, indeed, who sees this magnificent creature for 
the first time never forgets it. 

Next day he reached Minyama's kraal, the frontier out- 
post of the Matabele country, where most of the inhabitants 
were Makalakas in native dress. The country now became 
beautiful and park-like in character, and this extends to 
Bulawayo, the town founded by Lobengula in 1870, and 
where the sable king dwelt. On receipt of messages an- 
nouncing their arrival, the king arrived, dressed in a 
greasy shirt, a costume which shortly afterwards he dis- 
carded for native dress. " He asked me what I had come 
to do," writes Selous. " I said I had come to hunt elephants, 
upon which he burst out laughing, and said, ' Was it not 
steinbucks ' (a diminutive species of antelope) ' that you 
came to hunt ? Why, you're only a boy.' I replied that, 
although a boy, I nevertheless wished to hunt elephants 
and asked his permission to do so, upon which he made 
some further disparaging remarks regarding my youthful 
appearance, and then rose to go without giving me any 
answer." 

But Selous was persistent and again begged for permis- 
sion. " This time he asked me whether I had ever seen an 
elephant, and upon my saying no, answered, ' Oh, they 



74 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

will soon drive you out of the country, but you may go 
and see what you can do ! ' " Wlicn Selous asked him 
where he might go, Lobcngula replied impatiently, " Oh, 
you may go wherever you like, you are only a boy." 

It was about this time that the famous Boer elephant 
hunter, Jan Viljoen, arrived at Bulawayo and offered to 
take Sadlier and Selous to his waggons on the River Gwenia 
to join his hunting party. This was an opportunity not to 
be lost. In eight days the party, after crossing the Longwe, 
Sangwe, Shangani, and Gwelo, reached the Gwenia and 
found the patriarchal encampment of the Boer elephant 
hunters. The Boers then, as now, travelled even into the 
far interior with wives, children, cows, sheep, goats, and 
fowls, and established a " stand-place " whilst the men 
hunted in all directions, being absent for a week to a month 
at a time. A slight accident now prevented Selous from 
going in on foot with the Viljoens to hunt in the " fly." 
He went off at the Boer's request to buy some corn and on 
the way back, in passing some Griqua waggons at Jomani, 
he saw for the first time a Hottentot named Cigar, with 
whom later he became better acquainted. 

Cigar was an experienced hunter and as it seemed now 
hopeless to follow Viljoen he decided to go in and hunt with 
the Hottentot, It may be gathered how roughly they lived 
from Selous' own words : " Having now run through all 
my supplies of coffee, tea, sugar, and meal, we had nothing 
in the provision line but Kafir corn and meat of the animals 
we shot, washed down by cold water." 

Cigar — besides two Kafirs who were shooting for him, 
and carried their own guns and a supply of ammunition — 
had only three spare boys who carried his blankets, powder, 
Kafir corn, and a supply of fresh meat. He himself carried 
his own rifle, a heavy old four-bore muzzle-loader. " As 
for me," says Selous, " having had to leave two of my 
Kafirs to look after my horses and oxen, I had but one 
youngster with me, who carried my blanket and spare 
ammunition, whilst I shouldered my own old four-bore 
muzzle-loader, and carried besides a leather bag filled with 
powder, and a pouch containing twenty four-ounce round 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 75 

bullets. Though this was hardly doing the thing en grand 
seigneur, I was young and enthusiastic in those days and 
trudged along under the now intense heat with a light 
heart." 

It must be remembered that at this time nearly all the 
old Boer and English elephant-hunters, such as men like 
Piet Schwarz, William Finaughty, Hartley, the Jennings 
family, J. Giffard, T. Leask, and H. Biles, had given up the 
game of elephant-hunting when horses could be no longer 
used and the elephants themselves must be pursued on foot 
in the " fly." Only George Wood, Jan Viljoen,i and the 
greatest hunter of all in South Africa, Petrus Jacobs, still 
pursued the elephant, but the difficulty, danger, distance, 
and scarcity of elephant haunts were now so defined and 
the results so small that none save the very hardiest were 
able to follow them. 

At this time (1873) Piet Jacobs was undoubtedly the 
most famous hunter in South Africa. During a long life, 
most of which was spent in the Mashuna and Matabele 
country, he is supposed to have shot between 400 and 500 
bull elephants, mostly killed by hunting them from horse- 
back, but even after as an old man he killed many on foot 
in the " fly " country. Unlike most Boers, he constantly 
attacked lions whenever he had the opportunity, and Selous 
considers that he shot " more lions than any man that ever 
lived." His usual method in hunting these animals was, if 
the first shot missed, to loose three or four strong " Boer" 
dogs, which quickly ran the lion to bay. Then, as a rule, it 
was easily killed. One day, however, in 1873, on the 
Umniati river he was terribly mauled by a lion that charged 
after being bayed by his three dogs. His shot at the charging 
lion missed, and he was thrown to the ground and severely 
bitten on the thigh, left arm, and hand. The dogs, however, 
now came up and saved his life, but it was a long time 
before he recovered. He said that, unUke the experience of 
Dr. Livingstone, the bites of the lion were extremely pain- 

1 Finaughty states that in 1867 Jan Viljoeu and his party killed 210 
elephants in one trip. This is probably the largest bag of elephants ever 
made in one season. 



76 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

iul, at which Selous humorously remarks that the absence 
of suffering in such a case is an especial mercy " which 
Providence does not extend beyond ministers of the Gospel." 

Of WilUam Finaughty, the greatest of the English 
elephant - hunters, neither Selous nor any contemporary 
writer gives any particulars, so I am indebted to Mr. G. L. 
Harrison, an American gentleman, for his " Recollections 
of William Finaughty," which was privately printed in 
1916. He met Finaughty, who was then a very sHght old 
man, with a wonderful memory and much weakened by 
attacks of fever, in 1913. Finaughty was one of the first 
white men to hunt elephants in Matabeleland, and his 
activities extended from 1864 to 1875, when he gave up 
serious hunting because he could no longer pursue them on 
horseback. 

Finaughty describes himself as a harum-scarum youth 
who left Grahamstown at the age of twenty-one early 
in 1864. He passed north through the Free State, then 
swarming with tens of thousands of black wildebeest, blesbok, 
springbok, quagga, blue wildebeest, and ostrich, and made 
his way to Matabeleland, then ruled by Mzilikatse, a brother 
of the Zulu king Chaka. After sport with lion and buffalo 
on the road, for all game, including elephants, were abundant 
at this time, he reached Tati. Old Mzilikatse was then a 
physical wreck but treated the Englishman well, although 
at times he had violent outbursts of passion. Finaughty 
was witness of a great dance in which 2500 warriors took 
part, and on which occasion 540 oxen were slaughtered. 
Horse-sickness was then rife in the country and the party 
lost fourteen horses out of seventeen within thirty hours. 
In this, his first trip, Finaughty only killed three elephants, 
which he attributed to lack of experience. On his second 
trip in 1865 he did better, whilst a third in 1866 was made 
purely for trading, yet he shot eight elephants and then 
decided to become a hunter only. 

On the fourth trip he shot nineteen elephants, but in 
1868, on the Umbila, he states that he had " the two finest 
months of my life. In all I shot 95 elephants, the ivory 
weighing 5000 lbs." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 77 

One day he had a narrow escape in the sandy bed of the 
Sweswe river. He had wounded an old bull when he fired 
at it again as it was on the point of charging. His boy had 
put in two charges and the hunter was nearly knocked out 
of the saddle by the recoil. The elephant then charged 
and got right on the top of him, but, at the moment when 
death seemed imminent, the elephant's shoulder-bone broke 
and he was helpless — thus Finaughty escaped. In those 
days the elephants did not know the meaning of gunfire. 
Finaughty one day bagged six bulls in a river bed, as they 
did not run on the shots being fired. 

In 1869 he went into the elephant country one hundred 
miles beyond the Tuli and remained there three years, 
sending out his ivory and receiving fresh provisions and 
ammunition on the return of his waggons. In five months 
he killed fifty-three elephants jdelding 3000 lbs. of ivory. 
In one day he killed five bulls and five cows, which was his 
" record " bag for one day. In the two following years he 
killed a large number of elephants, but does not state the 
precise number. In 1870 he again hunted elephants without 
giving particulars. 

From 1870 to 1874 Finaughty remained at Shoshong as 
a trader and prospered. 

It is interesting to note that Finaughty, like many 
experienced hunters, does not agree with Selous in consider- 
ing the lion the most dangerous of all African game. He 
repeatedly says that buffalo-hunting is the most risky of all 
forms of hunting.! " Far better," he says, " follow up a 
wounded lion than a wounded buffalo, for the latter is the 
fiercest and most cunning animal to be found in Africa." 
He himself had many narrow escapes from buffaloes and 

^ In this matter Finaughty received powerful support in the evidence 
of William Judd, possibly the most experienced African hunter now 
living ; he writes : " As for buffalo I consider them far and away the most 
dangerous game. The difficulty of stopping a direct charge, as they very 
rarely swerve even to the heaviest bullet — the way they can force them- 
selves through bush absolutely impenetrable to man and the nast}' habit 
they have, when wounded (and sometimes when not wounded) of breaking 
away, making a detour and charging up again from behind, make them 
an adversary worthy of the greatest respect. I personally have had more 
close shaves from these brutes than I have had from all other big game 
put together — lions and elephants included." 



78 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

only one or two unpleasant incidents with lions. " No," 
he remarks again, " a man who is out after buffalo must 
shoot to kill and not to wound, and if he fails to bring his 
quarry down he should on no account venture to follow up 
unless in open country. He should never follow a buffalo 
into cover, unless he is accompanied by a number of good 
dogs. Many a good man has lost his Hfe through neglect 
of this precaution." Finaughty lived in the Transvaal 
from 1883 to 1887, and then moved to Johannesburg in the 
early days of the " boom." In the nineties he returned to 
Matabeleland to spend the rest of his days on his farm 
near Bulawayo. He was still alive in 19 14. 

What would, however, have been only toil and hardship 
to older men was small discomfort to a tough young fellow 
like Selous, who was now in his natural element. Almost at 
once he and Cigar tracked and killed a grand old bull which 
carried tusks of 61 and 58 lbs. On the following days they 
killed six elephants. Cigar accounting for four. Selous here 
pays a high tribute to the good qualities of his dusky com- 
panion. " Cigar was a slight-built, active Hottentot, 
possessed of wonderful powers of endurance, and a very 
good game shot, though a bad marksman at a target. These 
qualities, added to lots of pluck, made him a most successful 
elephant -hunter ; and for foot hunting in the ' fly ' country 
I do not think I could have had a more skilful preceptor ; 
for although only an uneducated Hottentot — once a jockey 
at Grahamstown — he continually allowed me to have the 
first shot, whilst the elephants were still standing — a great 
advantage to give me — and never tried in any way to over- 
reach me or claim animals that I had shot, as is so often 
done by Boer hunters. Strangely enough, Cigar told me, 
when the celebrated hunter, Mr. William Finaughty, first 
took him after elephants on horseback, he had such dreadful 
fear of the huge beasts that, after getting nearly caught by 
one, and never being able to kill any, he begged his master 
to let him remain at the waggons. When I knew him this 
fear must have worn off, and I have never since seen his 
equal as a foot hunter." Selous did very well with Cigar, 
getting 450 lbs. of ivory which he had shot himself, and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 79 

another 1200 lbs. which he had traded with the natives, 
thus making a clear profit of £300. When he saw the king, 
he told him that the elephants had not driven him out of 
the country, but that he had killed several, to which Loben- 
gula replied, " Why, you're a man ; when are you going 
to take a wife ? " and suggested that he should court one 
at once. 

Selous' friends had now all left the country, but he him- 
self decided to remain jn Matabeleland to be ready to hunt 
in the following year with George Wood. As usual, however, 
Lobengula took months to give his permission, so that it 
was not until the 15th June, 1873, that he gave permission 
to the two hunters to make a start. Even then he would 
not allow them to go to the Mashuna country and stated 
that they must hunt to the westward of the river Gwai. 

A fortnight after leaving Bulawayo Selous and Wood 
reached Linquasi, where they began to hunt, and two days 
later they killed two fine bull elephants. Here they estab- 
lished their main hunting-camp and made raids into the 
" fly." During this season of four months Selous killed 
forty-two elephants and George Wood fifty. They also 
accounted for a good many rhinoceros and buffalo. Their 
main hunting veldt was the " fly " region between the 
rivers Zambesi and Gwai. It was a broken country fuU of 
hills, " kloofs," dense bush and park-like opens. This area 
was formerly inhabited by the Makalakas, but these had 
been driven across the Zambesi by raiding Matabele. These 
regions were consequently a great game preserve and full 
of elephant, black and white rhinoceros, buffalo, zebra, 
sable, roan, koodoo, impala, reedbuck, klipspringer, grysbok, 
bushbuck, waterbuck, and other antelopes. In " A Hunter's 
Wanderings ' ' Selous gives many interesting accounts of his 
hunts after elephants, but perhaps his best is the splendid 
narrative of his great day, of which I am permitted to give 
his own description. 1 

" As soon as the day dawned, we sent a couple of Kafirs 
down to the water to see if any elephants had been there, 
and on their return in a quarter of an hour with the joyful 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 8^-88. 



8o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

tidings that a fine troop of bulls had drunk during the 
night, we at once started in pursuit. We found they had 
come down from the right-hand side, and returned on their 
own spoor, feeding along nicely as they went, so that we 
were in great hopes of overtaking them without much 
difficulty. Our confidence, however, we soon found was 
misplaced, for after a time they had ceased to feed, and, 
turning back towards the N.E., had taken to a path, along 
which they had walked in single file and at a quick pace, 
as if making for some stronghold in the hills. Hour after 
hour we trudged on, over rugged stony hills, and across 
open grassy valleys, scattered over which grew clumps of 
the soft-leaved machabel trees, or rather bushes ; but, 
though the leaves and bark of this tree form a favourite 
food of elephants, those we were pursuing had turned neither 
to the right nor to the left to pluck a single frond. 

" After midday, the aspect of the country changed, and 
we entered upon a series of ravines covered with dense, 
scrubby bush. Unfortunately the grass here had been 
burnt off, but for which circumstance the elephants, I feel 
sure, would have halted for their midday sleep. In one 
of these thickets we ran on to three black rhinoceroses 
{R. bicornis) lying asleep. When we were abreast of them 
they got our wind, and, jumping up, rushed close past the 
head of our line, snorting vigorously. It was a family party, 
consisting of a bull, a cow, and a full-grown calf ; they 
passed so near that I threw at them the thick stick which I 
used for a ramrod, and overshot the mark, it falling beyond 
them, 

" Shortly after this incident, we lost the spoor in some 
very hard, stony ground, and had some trouble in recovering 
it, as the Kafirs, being exhausted with the intense heat, 
and thinking we should not catch the elephants, had lost 
heart and would not exert themselves, hoping that we 
would give up the pursuit. By dint of a little care and 
perseverance, however, we succeeded, and after a time 
again entered upon a more open country. To cut a long 
story short, I suppose it must have been about two hours 
before sundown when we came to a large tree, from which 




Selous as a Young Man, in Hunting Costume. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 8i 

the elephants had only just moved on. At first we thought 
they must have got our wind and run, but on examination 
we found they had only walked quietly on. We put down 
the water-calabashes and axes, and the Kafirs took off their 
raw-hide sandals, and then we again, quickly but cautiously, 
followed on the spoor. It was perhaps five minutes later 
when we at last sighted them, seven in number, and all 
large, full-grown bulls. W. and I walked up to within 
thirty yards or so, and fired almost simultaneously ; he at 
one standing broadside, and I at another facing me. Our 
Hottentot boy also fired, and, as the animals turned, a 
volley was given by our Kafirs, about ten of whom carried 
guns. Not an elephant, however, seemed any the worse, 
and they went away at a great pace. Judging from the lie 
of the land ahead that they would turn to the right, I made 
a cut with my two gun-bearers, whilst W. kept in their 
wake. Fortune favoured me, for they turned just as I had 
expected, and I got a splendid broadside shot as they 
passed along the farther side of a little gully not forty 
yards off. The Kafir having, as he ran, reloaded the gun 
which I had already discharged and on which I placed 
most dependence, I fired with it at the foremost elephant, 
an enormous animal with long white tusks, when he was 
exactly opposite to me. My boy had put in the powder 
with his hand, and must have overloaded it, for the recoil 
knocked me down, and the gun itself flew out of my hands. 
Owing to this, I lost a little time, for, when I got hold of 
my second gun, the elephants had turned back again (ex- 
cepting the one just hit) towards W. and the Kafirs. How- 
ever, I gave another a bullet behind the big ribs as he was 
running obliquely away from me. The first, which I had 
hit right in the middle of the shoulder, was now walking 
very slowly up a steep hiU, looking as though he were 
going to fall every instant ; but, nevertheless (as until an 
elephant is actually dead, there is no knowing how far he 
may go), I determined to finish him before returning to 
the others. On reaching the top of the hill, and hearing me 
coming on not a dozen yards behind him, the huge beast 
wheeled round, and, raising his gigantic ears, looked rue- 



82 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

fully towards me. Poor beast, he was doubtless too far gone 
to charge, and, on receiving another ball in the chest, he 
stopped slowly bacl<wards, anti then sinking on to his 
haunches, threw his trunk high into the air and rolled over 
on his side, dead. 

" During this time, the remainder of the elephants, harried 
and bewildered by the continuous firing of W. and our 
little army of native hunters, had come round in a circle, 
and I saw the four that still remained (for, besides the one 
I had killed, two more were down) coming along in single 
file, at the long, quick half run, half walk, into which these 
animals settle after their first rush. I at once ran obliquelj' 
towards them ; but, before I could get near, one more first 
lagged behind, and then fell heavily to the ground, so that 
there were but three remaining. W., being blown, had been 
left behind ; but most of the Kafirs were still to the fore, 
firing away as fast as they could load, from both sides. It 
was astonishing what bad shooting they made : their 
bullets kept continually striking up the ground all round 
the elephants, sometimes in front of their trunks, sometimes 
behind them, and ever and anon one would come whistling 
high overhead. It was in vain that I shouted to them to 
leave off firing and let me shoot ; their blood was up, and 
blaze away they would. 

" Just as I was getting well up alongside, the elephants 
crossed a little gully, and entered a small patch of scrubby 
bush, on the slope of the hill beyond, in the shelter of which 
they at once stopped and faced about, giving me a splendid 
chance. I had just emptied both my guns, hitting one 
animal full in the chest, and another, that was standing 
broadside to me, in the shoulder, when loud lamentations 
and cries of ' Mai-ai ! ' ' Mai mamo ! ' burst from my 
Kafir followers close behind. At the same time my two 
gun-carriers, throwing down their guns, ran backwards, 
clapping their hands, and shouting like the rest. Turning 
hastily round, I saw a Kafir stretched upon the earth, his 
companions sitting round him, wailing and clapping their 
hands, and at once comprehended what had occurred. 
The ]X)or fellow who lay upon the ground had fired at the 



THE TJFE OF F. C. SEFOUS 83 

elephants, from about thirty yards behind myself, and then 
ran up an ant-hill, jnst as another Kalir, who preferred to 
keep at a safer distance, discharged a random shot, which 
struck poor Mendose just between the shoulder-blades, the 
bullet coming out on the right breast. T ran up at once to 
see what could be done, but all human aid was vain — the 
poor fellow was dead. At this moment two more shots 
fell clos(; behind, and a minute or two afterwards W. and our 
Hottentot boy John came up. One of the three elephants had 
fallen after my last shot, close at hand, and a second, sorely 
wounded, had walked back right on to W. and John, who 
were following on the spoor ; and the two shots I had just 
heard had sealed his fate. The third, however, and only 
surviving one out of the original seven, had made good his 
escape during the confusion, which he never would have 
done had it not been for the untimely death of Mendose. 

" The sun was now close down upon the western sky- 
line, and little time was to be lost. The Kafirs still continued 
to shout and cry, seeming utterly paralysed, and I began to 
think that they were possessed of more sympathetic feelings 
than I had ever given them credit for. However, on being 
asked whether they wished to leave the body for the hyenas, 
they roused themselves. As luck would have it, on the side 
of the very ant-hill on which the poor fellow had met his 
death was a large deep hole, excavated probably by an ant- 
eater, but now untenanted. Into this rude grave, with a 
Kafir needle to pick the thorns out of his feet, and his 
assegais with which to defend himself on his journey to 
the next world, we put the body, and then Ih'mly blocked 
u]) the entrance with large stones, to keep the prowhng 
hyenas from exhuming it. Poor Mendose ! he was an 
obedient, willing servant, and by far the best shot of all 
our native hunters. 

'■■'/' The first thing to be done now was to cut some meat 
from one of the elephants, and then get down to a pool of 
water which we had passed during the hunt, and make a 
' skerm ' for the night. On reaching the nearest carcase, 
which proved to be in fair condition, I was much surprised 
to see my Kafirs throw aside every semblance of grief, and 



84 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

fight and quarrel over pieces of fat and other titbits in their 
usual manner. Even the fellow who had had the misfortune 
to shoot his comrade, though he kept asserting that ' hjs 
heart was dead/ was quite as eager as the rest. In the 
evening they laughed and chatted and sang as usual, ate 
most hearty suppers, and indeed seemed as if all memory 
of the tragedy which had occurred but a few hours before, 
and which at the time had seemed to affect them so deeply, 
had passed from their minds. 

" Thus ended the best day's hunting, as regards weight 
of ivory, at which I had ever assisted. The next day we 
set the Kafirs to work with three American axes, and before 
nightfall the twelve tusks (not one of which was broken) were 
lying side by side, forming one of the finest trophies a sports- 
man's heart could desire to look upon. The largest pair 
of tusks weighed 57 lbs. apiece, and the smallest 29 lbs. and 
31 lbs. respectively — a very fair lot of bull ivory." 

A few days later he had an interesting day in the valley 
of the Dett and experienced something of the difficulties 
and dangers of the hunter's life.^ 

" About an hour later, we came up with them, standing 
some fifty yards away, on our right, under a clump of 
camel-thorn trees, and in a rather open place compared 
with the general density of the surrounding jungle. Besides 
the small troop of bulls we had followed, and which were 
nearest to us, there was a very large herd of cows standing 
just beyond, which, as we had not crossed their spoor, had 
probably drunk at Sikumi — a water-hole not many miles 
distant — and come to this rendezvous from the other side. 

" Taking a hasty gulp of water, we at once walked to- 
wards them. As we advanced, the slight rustling of the 
bushes must have attracted the attention of one of the bulls, 
for he raised his trunk high in the air, and made a few steps 
forward. ' I'll take him, and do you fire at the one with 
the long white tusks on the left,' whispered W. * Right 
you are ! ' was the reply, and the next moment we fired. 
I just had time to see my elephant fall on his knees, when 
he was hidden by the troop of cows that, awakened from 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 89-99. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 85 

their sleep by the shots, and not knowing exactly where 
the danger lay, came rushing towards us in a mass, one or 
two of them trumpeting, and others making a sort of rum- 
bling noise. Seizing our second guns and shouting lustily, 
we again pulled trigger. Our Hottentot boy John, and 
five of our Kafirs, who still carried guns, also fired ; on 
which the herd turned and went off at right angles, enveloped 
in a cloud of dust. My gun had only snapped the cap, 
but my Kafir, to whom I threw it back, thinking in the 
noise and hurry that it was discharged, reloaded it on the 
top of the old charge — a fact which I only found out, to 
my sorrow, later on. The cloud of sand and dust raised 
by the panic-stricken elephants was at first so thick that 
we could distinguish nothing ; but, running behind them, 
I soon made out the bull I had wounded, which I recognized 
by the length and shape of his tusks. He was evidently 
hard hit, and, being unable to keep up with the herd, he 
turned out, and went off alone ; but he was joined almost 
immediately by four old cows, all with small, insignificant 
tusks, and, instead of running away, they walked along 
quite slowly, first in front of and then behind him, as if to 
encourage him. Seeing how severely he was wounded, I at 
once went after him, accompanied only by my two gun- 
carriers, Nuta and Balamoya, W. and the rest of the Kafirs 
going on after the troop. My bull was going so slowly that 
I had no difficulty in threading my way through the bushes 
and getting in front of him, which I did in order to get a 
broadside shot as he passed me. One of the four cows that 
still accompanied him walked along, carrying her head high 
and her tail straight in the air, and kept constantly turning 
from side to side. ' That cow will bother us ; shoot her,' 
said Nuta, and I wish I had taken his advice ; but her 
tusks were so small, and the bull seemed so very far gone, 
that I thought it would be a waste of ammunition. I 
therefore waited till he was a little in front of where I stood, 
and then gave him a bullet at very close quarters, just 
behind the shoulder, and, as I thought, exactly in the right 
place ; but he nevertheless continued his walk as if he had 
not felt it. Reloading the same gun, I ran behind him, 



86 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

holding it before me in both hands, ready to raise at a mo- 
ment's notice, and, the four cows being some twenty yards 
in advance, I shouted, hoping he would turn. The sound 
of my voice had the desired effect ; for he at once raised 
his ears and swung himself round, or rather was in the act of 
doing so, for immediately his ears went up my gun was at my 
shoulder, and as soon as he presented his broadside I fired, 
on which he turned again, and v/ent crashing through the 
bushes at a trot. I thought that it was a last spasmodic 
rush and that he would fall before going very far ; so, 
giving the gun back to Nuta to reload, I was running after 
him, with my eyes fixed on the quivering bushes as they 
closed behind him, when suddenly the trunk of another 
elephant was whirled round, almost literally above my head, 
and a short, sharp scream of rage thrilled through me, 
making the blood tingle down to the very tips of my fingers. 
It was one of the wretched old cows, that had thus lain 
in wait for me behind a dense patch of bush. 

" Even had my gun been in my hands, I should scarcely 
have had time to fire, so close was she upon me ; but, as 
it was, both my Kafirs were some fifteen yards behind, 
and the only thing I could do was to run. How I got away 
I scarcely know. I bounded over and through thorn-bushes 
which, in cold blood, I should have judged impenetrable ; 
but I was urged on by the short piercing screams which, 
repeated in quick succession, seemed to make the whole air 
vibrate, and by the fear of finding myself encircled by the 
trunk or transfixed by the tusk of the enraged animal. 
After a few seconds (for I don't think she pursued me a 
hundred yards, though it seemed an age), the screaming 
ceased. During the chase, the elephant was so close behind 
me, that looking over my shoulder was impossible, and all 
that I did was to dash forward, springing from side to side 
so as to hinder her from getting hold of me, and it was only 
when the trumpeting suddenly stopped that I knew I was 
out of her reach. I was barelegged — as I always am when 
hunting on foot — and my only garment before the beast 
charged was a flannel shirt ; but I now stood almost in 
puris naturalihus, for my hat, the leather belt that I wore 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS Sy 

round my waist, and about three parts of my shirt, had 
been torn off by the bushes, and I doubt if there was a 
square inch of skin left uninjured anywhere on the front 
of my body." 

Soon after another old bull charged him. 

" Taking a good sight for the middle of his shoulder, I 
pulled the trigger. This time the gun went off — it was 
a four-bore elephant gun, loaded twice over, and the powder 
thrown in each time by a Kafir with his hands — and I went 
off too ! I was lifted clean from the ground, and turning 
round in the air, fell with my face in the sand, whilst the 
gun was carried yards away over my shoulder. At first I 
was almost stunned with the shock, and I soon found that 
I could not Uft my right arm. Besides this, I was covered 
with blood, which spurted from a deep wound under the 
right cheek-bone, caused by the stock of the gun as it flew 
upwards from the violence of the recoil. The stock itself — 
though it had been bound round, as are all elephant -guns, 
with the inside skin of an elephant's ear put on green, 
which when dry holds it as firmly as iron — was shattered 
to pieces, and the only wonder was that the barrel did not 
burst. Whether the two bullets hit the elephant or not I 
cannot say ; but I think they must have done so, for he 
only went a few yards after I fired, and then stood still, 
raising his trunk every now and then, and dashing water 
tinged with blood over his chest. I went cautiously up to 
within forty yards or so of him, and sat down. Though I 
could not hold my arm out, I could raise my forearm, so 
as to get hold of the trigger ; but the shock had so told on 
me, that I found I could not keep the sight within a yard 
of the right place. The elephant remained perfectly still ; 
so I got Nuta to work my arm about gently, in order to 
restore its power, and hoped that in the meantime the Kafir, 
whose shouting had originally brought the elephant to me, 
would come up and be able to go and fetch W. No doubt, 
if I had shouted he would have come at once, for he could 
not have been very far off ; but had I done so the elephant 
might either have charged, or else continued his flight, neither 
of which alternatives did I desire. After a short time, seeing 



88 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

no chance of aid arriving, and my nerves having got a little 
steadier, I took my favourite gun from Nuta, and, resting 
my elbow on my knee, took a quiet pot shot. I was, however, 
still very unsteady even in this position, but I do not think 
the bullet could have struck very far from the right place. 
The elephant on receiving the shot made a rush forwards, 
crashing through the bushes at a quick walk, so that we 
had to run at a hard trot to keep him in sight. He now 
seemed very vicious, for, hearing a dry branch snap, he 
turned and ran towards us, and then stood with his ears 
up, feeling about in all directions with his trunk to try and 
get our wind. 

" Nuta, who up to this day had always been a most staunch 
and plucky gun-bearer, now seemed seized with a panic, 
and refused to bring me the gun any more, calling out, 
' Leave the elephant, sir ; this day you're bewitched, and 
will surely be killed.' However, as the elephant was evi- 
dently very severely wounded, I had no idea of giving over 
the chase as long as I could keep up, and, after bestowing a 
few Anglo-Saxon idioms upon Nuta, I again ran on. The 
bush now became very thick, and, as the elephant was going 
straight away, I could not get a chance of a shot. About 
a mile farther on, however, we came to one of those large 
open turf flats which occur here and there in the midst of 
the sinangas. It was quite a mile square, and perfectly 
bare, with the exception of a few large camel-thorn trees, 
which were scattered about in clumps. On reaching this 
opening, the elephant, instead of turning back into the bush, 
as I should have expected, kept his course, making straight 
for the farther side, and going at that long, swinging walk, 
to keep up with which a man on foot must run at a fair 
pace. I had now been a long time bare-headed, exposed 
to the heat of the fierce tropical sun, and the kick I had 
received from the gun had so much shaken me, that I felt 
dead-beat, and could scarcely drag one leg after the other. 
I saw that I should never be able to run up to within shot 
of the elephant, which was now about 150 yards ahead ; 
so, taking the gun from Nuta, I told him to try and run 
right round him, and by shouting turn him back towards 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS Sg 

me. Relieved of the weight of the gun, and being a splendid 
runner, he soon accomplished this, and standing behind 
the stem of a camel-thorn tree a long way in advance, 
holloed loudly. Accordingly, I had the satisfaction of seeing 
the elephant stop, raise his ears, look steadily in the direc- 
tion of the noise, and then wheel round, and come walking 
straight back towards the jungle he had just left, taking a 
line which would bring him past me, at a distance of about 
fifty or sixty yards. I stood perfectly still, with Balamoya 
kneeHng close behind me ; for, though elephants can see 
very well in the open, I have always found that if they do 
not get your wind, and you remain motionless, they seem 
to take you for a tree or a stump. To this I now trusted, 
and as the elephant came on I had full leisure to examine 
him. The ground between us was as bare as a board, except 
that it was covered with coarse grass about a foot high, 
and he looked truly a gigantic and formidable beast ; his 
tusks were small for his size, one of them being broken at 
the point, and I do not think they could have weighed 
much over 30 lbs. apiece. He came steadily on, swinging 
his trunk backwards and forwards, until he was about 
seventy yards from where I stood, when suddenly I was dis- 
mayed to see his trunk sharply raised, as if to catch a stray 
whiff of wind, and the next instant he stopped and faced 
full towards us, with his head raised, and his enormous 
ears spread like two sails. He took a few steps towards us, 
raising his feet very slowly, and bringing them down as if 
afraid of treading on a thorn. It was an anxious moment ; 
he was evidently very suspicious, but did not know what 
to make of us, and had we remained motionless I beheve he 
would still have turned and walked on again. ' Stand 
still ! ' I whispered between my teeth to Balamoya ; but 
the sight of the advancing monster was too much for him — 
he jumped up and bolted. The instant he moved, on came 
the elephant, without trumpeting, and with his trunk 
straight down. Though very shaky just before, the im- 
minence of the danger braced up my nerves, and I think I 
never held a gun steadier than upon this occasion. As he 
was coming direct at me, and as he did not raise his trunk. 



^ THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

his chest was quite covered ; there was therefore nothing 
left but to lire at his head. He came on at an astonishing 
pace, and I heard only the ' whish, whish ,' of the grass as his 
great feet swept^through it. He was perhaps twenty yards 
off when I pulled the trigger. I aimed a little above the 
root of the trunk and just between the eyes, and directly I 
fired I ran out sideways as fast as I could, though I had not 
much running left in me. Looking over my shoulder, I 
saw him standing with his ears still up and his head slightly 
turned, looking towards me ; the blood was pouring down 
his trunk from a wound exactly where I had aimed, and, 
as it was inflicted by a four-ounce ball, backed by a heavy 
charge of powder, I cannot understand why it did not 
penetrate to his brain ; it had half-stunned him, however, 
and saved my life, for, had he come on again, it would have 
been utterly impossible for me, fatigued as I was, to have 
avoided him. After standing still for a short time, swaying 
himself gently from side to side, he again turned and took 
across the flat. Nuta, seeing what had happened, instead 
of trying to turn him again, cleared out of his road, and, 
making a large circle, came back to me. Perhaps it was as 
well he did so." 

Selous now gave up the pursuit without having killed a 
single elephant, and it was ten days before he could use his 
arm again. 

In November, the rainy season having set in, Selous and 
Wood returned to Bulawayo carrying 5000 lbs. weight of 
ivory. Selous bears testimony to the extraordinary abun- 
dance of game at this time in South Africa, and gives a 
wonderful word-picture of the extraordinary collection of 
animals he saw one evening in October, 1873, in the valley 
of the Dett. 

" First, a few hundred yards higher up this vaUey than 
where we were working, a herd of nine giraffes stalked 
slowly and majestically from the forest, and, making their 
way to a pool of water, commenced to drink. These giraffes 
remained in the open vaUey until dark, one or other of 
them, from time to time, straddling out his forelegs in a 
most extraordinary manner in order to get its mouth down 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 91 

to the water. No other animals came to drink in the pools 
between us and the giraffes. Possibly some got our wind 
before leaving the shelter of the forest, though the evening 
was very still. But below us, as far as one could see down 
the valley, the open ground was presently alive with game. 
One after another, great herds of buffaloes emerged from 
the forest on either side of the valley and fed slowly down 
to the water. One of these herds was preceded by about 
tifty zebras and another by a large herd of sable antelopes. 
Presently two other herds of sable antelopes appeared upon 
the scene, and a second herd of zebras, and five magnifi- 
cently horned old koodoo bulls, whilst rhinoceroses both of 
the black and white species (the latter predominating in 
numbers) were scattered amongst the other game, singly or in 
twos and threes all down the valley. Of course all this great 
concourse of wild animals had been collected together in the 
neighbourhood of the valley of the Dett owing to the drying 
up of all the valleys in the surrounding country, and during the 
rainy season would have been scattered over a wide area."^ 
In 1874, Wood, Selous, Mr. and Lieutenant Garden 
trekked north, intending to hunt on the Zambesi and Chobe 
rivers. They left Tati on May 6th and approached the 
Victoria Falls on June loth, stopping on the way at Daka, 
where Wood and Selous killed some elephants, and the latter 
had a somewhat narrow escape from a charging bull which 
he managed to kill just at the right moment. On June 27th 
they viewed the wonderful Falls of Zambesi, and Selous, 
like all other travellers, goes into ecstasies at their beauty 
and grandeur. Here they encountered for the first time a 
rare antelope, the pookoo, which gave Selous much pleasure, 
for it may be said that from this date he commenced his 
wonderful collection of African mammals. During, and 
after, 1874, he never failed to preserve and keep for his own 
collection all the best specimens of big game he shot, 
then having unrivalled opportunities for getting the finest 
trophies. This can, of course, only be achieved when animals 
are abundant. He often lamented afterwards that he did 
not take more care to get some buffalo bulls of the first 

^ " Airican Nature Notes aud Reininisceuces," p. 134. 



92 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

quality, for he certainly saw and killed great numbers in 
those early years, yet he only kept three or four heads of 
bulls that were in no way remarkable, when he could have 
possessed the best specimens in existence. Wlien he wanted 
them it was too late. 

At the Zambesi, Wood decided to go eastward to the 
Gwai, so Selous and the Gardens travelled west into the 
unknown country of the Chobe. On the first day Selous 
killed a splendid koodoo bull which he preserved, and shortly 
afterwards encountered numerous herds of pookoo and other 
antelopes. The country about the Chobe was in fact about 
the best for mixed game at this period, and Selous revelled 
in the wealth of animal life, though he devoted most of his 
energies to looking for elephants, which were here difficult to 
kill owing to shifting winds. One day he had quite a little 
battle with the fierce buffalo cow.^ 

" On again arriving at the open valley mentioned above, 
I found it occupied by a large herd of two or three hundred 
buffaloes, that had emerged from the surrounding jungle 
during my absence, and were now feeding quietly down 
towards the river for their evening drink. Though I hardly 
liked to fire, for fear of disturbing elephants, some of which 
might, for all I knew, be within hearing, yet, on the other 
hand, I had a strong desire to secure a nice fat buffalo steak 
for supper, and at last forgetting all more prudent resolves, 
and sympathising with the feelings of my Kafirs who kept 
entreating me to shoot them a fat cow, I took my four-bore 
elephant-gun and advanced towards the still unconscious 
herd, resolved to kill one if possible. Those that were 
nearest were about one hundred and twenty yards from the 
edge of the bush, beyond which there was no shelter, save 
that afforded by a few large scattered goussy trees. How- 
ever, by creeping cautiously forward on my hands and 
knees, I managed to get within eighty yards or so, when an 
old cow observing me, raised her head and gazed steadily 
towards where I crouched. There was no time to be lost, 
as I saw she was thoroughly alarmed, so, singling out a fine 
fat cow, that stood broadside on close beside her, I raised 

1 " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 120-123. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 93 

my heavy gun, and taking a quick aim behind her shoulder, 
fired. The loud bellow that followed the shot told me she 
was hard hit, but I could sec nothing, for the whole herd, 
startled by the report of the gun, rushed together in wild 
affright, and now stood in a dense mass, facing towards 
their hidden foe, effectuall}^ screening the wounded cow 
from my view. In another instant, seemingly satisfied 
that something dangerous was near, they turned about and 
galloped away across the valley, making for the bush on 
the opposite side, and on the dust raised by their many feet 
subsiding, I beheld the one I had wounded still standing 
where she had been shot, and thought she was about done 
for ; but on seeing me step from behind a tree, she imme- 
diately wheeled round and made for the jungle. 

" When the herd ran together, after I had fired, with 
several nasty-looking old bulls in their front, my native 
attendants had all retreated precipitately to the edge of the 
bush (with the exception of one of the Masaras, who was 
carrying a small gourd of water slung on an assegai over his 
shoulder) , or I might have given the cow another shot with 
my second gun before she turned to run. Although evi- 
dently severely wounded, she still managed to get over the 
ground at a great rate, and entered the bush at least 100 
yards in advance of myself and the Bushman, who were 
following at our best pace, the Kafirs carrying my guns 
being a considerable distance behind. Just within the edge 
of the jungle was one very thick patch, unlike the greater 
part, covered with foliage, and behind this the wounded 
buffalo turned and stood at bay waiting for her pursuers. 
Not thinking of this stratagem (a very common one with 
both buffaloes and elephants), and imagining her to be a 
considerable distance ahead, I ran into her very horns before I 
saw her, and she at the same time seeing me at once charged, 
with eyes on fire, and her nose stretched straight out, 
grunting furiously. Luckily she was not standing head on, 
but broadside to me, and so could not come straight at me, 
but had first to turn round the bush. This gave me time to 
spring through the bushes to one side, as she rushed past, 
when she immediately made at the Bushman, who, springing 



94 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

into a small sapling, just swung his body up out of reach 
as she passed beneath. So close was she, that, as the 
calabash full of water, which he had been carrying slung on 
an assegai, fell to the ground behind him, she smashed it 
to atoms, either with her feet or horns, just as, if not before, 
it touched the ground. After this she turned and stood 
under the very slender tree on which the Bushman hung, 
looking up at him, and grunting furiously, but not attempt- 
ing to butt the tree down, which I think she could have 
accomplished had she but tried. At this instant the Kafir 
who carried my ten-bore rifle, reaching the scene of action 
unperceived by the buffalo, fired at and missed her, on which 
she again retreated behind the bush from whence she had 
first charged. By this time, however, I had my second 
elephant -gun in my hands, and creeping up gave her 
another bullet on the point of the shoulder, just as she 
caught sight of me and was again turning to charge. On 
receiving this second ball, she fell to the ground, and 
snatching up an assegai, and followed by several of the 
Kafirs, we ran in and despatched her before she could rise. 
She proved to be a dry cow in splendid condition." 

He killed several good bull elephants in the Chobe bush and 
had some narrow escapes, once nearly losing his life owing 
to the caps missing fire. What delighted him most was the 
abundance of other game he saw. He believed the sable 
antelopes here carried finer horns than in any part of 
South Africa, south of the Zambesi, and often wished 
afterwards he had shot one or two, but when he encountered 
them he was always after elephants, so he did not fire. The 
best specimen of this grand animal he killed in Northern 
Mashunaland three years later, and its horns measured 
44I ins. in length, but he always thought that somewhere 
in Africa there were greater sable antelopes than this, and 
one day, in later years, he found in the museum at Florence 
a wonderful single horn of 60 inches. For years he tried to 
find out where it came from without success. Now we 
know it must have been sent from Angola, Portuguese West 
Africa, for on the Ouanza river some remarkable specimens 
have been obtained, reaching up to 63 inches, but it 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 95 

is feared that they are few in number there, and nearly 
extinct. 

Near the Chobe on some marshy flats he found the 
lechwe antelope for the first time and killed some good 
examples, and he accurately described^ the curious move- 
ments of these antelopes. 

" When first they make up their minds to run, these 
lechwe buck stretch out their noses, lapng their horns flat 
along their backs, and trot like an eland, but on being 
pressed break into a springing gallop, now and then bound- 
ing high into the air like impalas. Even when in water up 
to their necks they do not swim, but get along by a succes- 
sion of bounds with great rapidity, making a tremendous 
splashing and general commotion. Of course when the 
water becomes too deep for them to bottom they are forced 
to swim, which they do well and strongly, though not as fast 
as the natives can paddle, and in the rainy season, when the 
country is flooded, great numbers are driven into deep 
water and speared before they can again reach the shallows 
where they can touch ground. It is owing to their being 
thus driven about and harried by the natives in canoes, I 
suspect, that they are so wild, as I don't think they can 
often have heard the sound of a gun before." 

In September he was very lucky with the elephants, 
killing five each day on September 4th and September 8th. 
Altogether he shot twenty-four in 1874. 

" During the intensely hot weather in September and 
October, just before the rains fall, elephants soon become 
fatigued if driven about and exposed to the fierce sun. 
When they get hot and tired they insert their trunks into 
their mouths and draw out water from their stomachs, 
which they dash over their breasts and shoulders to cool 
themselves ; and when the supply of water is exhausted they 
will sometimes throw sand over their bodies, which one would 
suppose would only make them hotter than they were 
before. Though, as I have said, elephants get knocked up 
comparatively soon when hunted during the hot weather, 
yet, as may be imagined, it is killing work following them 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 137-13S. 



96 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

on foot at that season, in deep sandy ground and under a 
tropical sun, and with nothing to drink but a very limited 
allowance of water carried in a gourd, which soon gets 
lukewarm from the intensity of the heat."i 

On September nth he made a start for home, reaching 
Daka on September 26th, after an absence of three months. 
He then went east to trade at Wankie, where he got 300 lbs. 
of good ivory. In December he trekked south to the Tati, 
where he shot his first lion. Thus it was three years before 
Selous actually shot a lion in Africa — a fact that may seem 
somewhat strange, but not so much when we consider the 
nocturnal habits of these animals. I knew a man in East 
Africa who lived in a district where lions are far more 
abundant than they were in South Africa, who, though 
constantly shooting and travelling in lion haunts, had never 
once seen one of these beasts in the course of several years, 

Selous' first lions were evidently of the fighting order, as 
they always are, when pressed by a mounted man. 2 

" On this occasion, as Dorehill and myself were riding 
through a patch of bush, our ears were suddenly saluted 
with a muffled growling that we did not immediately 
interpret. The next instant, however, Hartebeest rushed 
forward, pointing with his assegai, and shouting, ' Isilouan ! 
isilouan ! ' (lions ! lions !). I saw nothing, but galloped 
through the bush in the direction he pointed, Dorehill 
heading a little to the right. A few moments later, coming 
to a more open part. I saw two large lionesses trotting along in 
front of me. Upon hearing me behind them, they both 
stopped, and standing broadside to me, turned their heads 
and looked towards me. Pulling in my horse, I jumped to 
the ground, upon which they started off again at a gallop. 
I fired at the hindermost one as she ran, and evidently 
struck her, for she threw up her tail and gave a loud growl. 
They now went into a patch of short mopani bush, beyond 
which the country was open forest, with no underwood. 
At first they trotted out into this open forest, but the 
wounded one not seeming to like it, turned, and squatting 

' " A Hunter's Wanderings," p. 181. 
2 Ibid., pp. 187-189. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 97 

on the ground, crept back like a cat, with her shoulders 
above her back, and her eyes all the time fixed upon me, 
until she reached a little thorn-bush, under which she 
stretched herself at full length, and lay watching me with 
her head couched on her outstretched paws. All this time 
the other lioness was standing in the open, and I was just 
going to dismount and fire at her, when, turning towards me, 
she trotted a few steps forwards, and then, throwing her 
tail two or three times straight into the air, came galloping 
forwards, growling savagely. Turning my horse's head I 
pressed him to his utmost speed, closely pursued by the 
lioness. I do not know how near she got, but her loud 
purring growls sounded unpleasantly close. As soon as the 
growling stopped, I knew she had given up the chase, and 
so rode round in a half-circle to get a view of her. She then 
trotted to a large mopani tree, in the shade of which she 
stood. When I rode to another tree about sixty yards off, 
she lowered her head and stood looking at me, snarling 
savagely, with her tail held straight in the air. I think that 
she had done her best to catch me, as her flanks were 
heaving like those of a tired dog, with the exertion of her 
run. Feeling sure that she would charge again as soon as 
she recovered her breath, I steadied myself and fired from 
the saddle, but missed her. She never took the slightest 
notice of the shot, but continued snarling and growling. 
Resting the butt of my rifle (a single ten-bore muzzle- 
loader) on my foot, I now reloaded with all expedition, and 
fired again, the lioness all this time having preserved the 
same position, standing exactly facing me. This time I 
struck her right in the mouth, knocking out one of the 
lower canine teeth, breaking the lower jaw-bone, and 
injuring her neck. She fell to the shot instantly, and lay 
quite still. I thought she was dead, but took the precaution 
to reload before riding up to her. On my dismounting and 
walking towards her, she raised herself on her fore-quarters, 
when I gave her a ball in the shoulder which effectually 
settled her. Dorehill now came up with the Kafirs. He 
had seen the other lions, a male and two females, for there 
were five altogether, but they had given him the slip in a 



98 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

patch of thick bush. We now went to look for the one I had 
first wounded, but though there was a httle blood under the 
bush where she had been lying, we could discover no further 
trace of her, and the ground being very hard no sign of her 
spoor was visible, even to the keen eyes of the Bushmen. 
So, after skinning the one I had killed, which was in beauti- 
ful condition, we returned to the waggons." 

At Tati Selous received his first letters from home since 
he left the Diamond Fields three years previously, and after 
reading their contents he decided to go home, and so turned 
his face southward on February ist, 1875. 



CHAPTER IV 

1876-1878 

THE years 1872-1874 were undoubtedly the most 
strenuous of Selous' life, for after his return to 
South Africa in 1876 he used the horse in the 
greater part of his journeys in the interior, except on such 
trips as he made into the " fly," when he seldom met with 
elephants. He landed again at Algoa Bay on March 15th 
1876, and at once organized another trip into the interior, 
taking four months before he reached the Matabele country 
by bullock waggon. Here he met his old friend Dorehill, 
Lieutenant Grandy, R.N., and a Mr. Horner, and as it was 
too late to make an extensive trip after elephants the party 
spent the remainder of the year in short hunting trips down 
the Tati, Shashi, and Ramokwebani rivers. Much of this 
time was spent in hunting giraffes, and he gives many lively 
accounts of this exhilarating sport, also of hunting buffaloes 
and the larger antelopes. One day on the Ramokwebani 
Selous and his friends had a thrilling hunt after an old male 
lion which gave much trouble. Selous broke the animal's 
shoulder with the first shot and then followed into thick 
bush in which the lion kept retreating. For that evenmg 
he was lost as night came on, but next day Selous tried his 
dogs, which seemed disinclined to face the quarry. The 
lion, however, was soon found, as a wet night had made 
" spooring " easy, and he kept up a continuous roaring, 
which is unusual. Grandy and Horner had shots, after 
which the lion continued his retreat from one thicket to 
another, but roaring at intervals. ^ 

" As it was, however, I was peering about into the bush 
to try and catch sight of him, holding my rifle advanced in 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 244-245. 
99 



100 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

front of me, and on full cock, when I became aware that he 
was coming at me through the bush. The next instant out 
he burst. I was so close that I had not even time to take 
a sight, but, stepping a pace backwards, got the rifle to my 
shoulder, and, when his head was close upon the muzzle, 
pulled the trigger and jumped to one side. The lion fell 
almost at my very feet, certainly not six feet from the 
muzzle of the rifle. Grandy and Horner, who had a good 
view of the charge, say that he just dropped in his tracks 
when I fired, which I could not see for the smoke. One 
thing, however, I had time to notice, and that was that he 
did not come at me in bounds, but with a rush along the 
ground. Perhaps it was his broken shoulder that hindered 
him from springing, but for all that he came at a very great 
rate, and with his mouth open. Seeing him on the ground, 
I thought that I must have shattered his skull and killed 
him, when, as we were advancing towards him, he stood 
up again. Dorehill at once fired with a Martini-Henry 
rifle, and shot him through the thigh. On this he fell down 
again, and, rolling over on to his side, lay gasping. We 
now went up to him, but, as he still continued to open his 
mouth, Horner gave him a shot in the head. I now ex- 
amined my prize with great satisfaction. He was an 
average-sized lion, his pegged-out skin measuring lo ft. 3 in. 
from nose to tip of tail, sleek, and in fine condition, and 
his teeth long and perfect. Grandy and Horner must both 
have missed him when they first fired, as we could find no 
mark of their bullets on the skin ; so that when he charged 
the only wound he had was the one I had given him on the 
previous evening. This bullet had merely smashed his 
shoulder-blade and lodged under the skin just behind it. 
The bullet with which I so luckily stopped him when 
charging had struck him fair on the head, about half an 
inch above the right eye ; here it had cracked the skull, 
but, without penetrating, had glanced along the bone and 
come out behind the right ear. I beheve that this shot 
must have given him concussion of the brain and caused 
his death, and that when he stood up after it was merely 
a spasmodic action, for the shot that Dorehill gave him was 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS lOl 

only a flesh wound through the thighs, and the last shot 
that Horner gave him in the head|as he lay on the ground 
had passed beneath the brain-pan." 

At the Ramokwebani Selous met for the first time George 
Westbeech, the well-known trader, who had for years 
traded in the far interior as a pioneer. He principally 
worked the ivory business on the Zambesi and all its con- 
fluents north and south. In 1871 he opened up a lucrative 
business with Sepopo, king of the Barotsi, and between 
that year and 1876, when Sepopo was assassinated, he 
brought out no less than 30,000 lbs. of ivory. He also 
traded much with the Portuguese on the Zambesi, and his 
operations extended as far north as the Mashukulumbwe 
country. Selous, as well as all travellers in the interior at 
this period, had a great respect for Westbeech, and bears 
testimony to his high character and integrity in dealings 
with the natives. He regarded him as a fine type of the 
best class of English pioneer, and is scathing in his de- 
nunciation of " stay-at-home aborigines' protectionists, 
who, comfortably seated in the depths of their armchairs 
before a blazing fire, are continually thundering forth 
denunciations against the rapacious British colonist, and 
the * low, immoral trader,' who exerts such a baneful 
influence upon the chaste, and guileless savages of the 
interior. I speak feelingly, as I am proud to rank myself as 
one of that little body of English and Scotch men who, as 
traders and elephant-hunters in Central South Africa, have 
certainly, whatever may be their faiUngs in other respects, 
kept up the name of EngUshmen amongst the natives for 
all that is upright and honest. In the words of Buckle, we 
are neither monks nor saints, but only men," 

Late in 1876 Selous went down to the Diamond Fields to 
fetch some property, and trekked south via Bamangwato. 
This occupied five months before he returned to Matabele- 
land. On December 6th he had an adventure with lions at 
Pelatse. He was awakened at 2.30 by his boy, January, 
who told him there was something on his horse. It was, 
however, too dark to see to shoot, but he crept near and 
saw two lions leave the dead horse. He then crawled close 



102 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

to the carcase and another lion rose and sprang away. 
Just as daylight came in, however, he saw a lion lying 
" between me and the horse, its tawny body pressed fiat 
upon the yellow sand and its great head couched upon its 
outstretched paws." He lired at it at a distance of twelve 
paces and the lion rolled over, recovered, and, made off. 
When day broke he followed the wounded lion for several 
miles, but never found it again. A few days later some 
Bushmen found the lion dead and took the skin, but Selous 
never recovered it, as he had by this time gone south. 

In " A Hunter's Wanderings," " The Lion in South 
Africa " (Badminton Library), and " The Gun at Home 
and Abroad," Selous gives the most complete account of 
the lion and its habits and mode of hunting that has been 
written by any hunter of wide experience. 

It is somewhat curious to notice that three lirst-class 
authorities, namely Selous, Finaughty, and Neumann, who 
all had a wide experience with lions, buffaloes, and ele- 
phants, all differ entirely as to the respective danger in 
dealing with these formidable animals. Selous considered 
that the lion was much the worst when cornered, Finaughty 
is emphatic that the buffalo is by far the most dangerous 
opponent, whilst Neumann gives the elephant first place. 
Each hunter had ample opportunities for gauging the 
fighting qualities of these animals, and all agree that they 
are very dangerous, and give numerous examples from 
their own experience, so that we are still left in doubt as 
to the real issue. The experience of men who have only 
seen and shot a few lions, buffaloes, and elephants is not 
of much value, because these beasts are judged according 
to their behaviour in special cases, but Selous shot many 
of all kinds when rifles were clumsy and inefficient, and 
even when armed with the most accurate and powerful 
weapons, and yet adheres to his point, that the lion never 
refuses battle when once he is stopped, whilst buffaloes and 
elephants almost invariably try to get away unless severely 
wounded. It is possible, however, that in past times lions 
in South Africa were more savage than they are to-day in 
East Africa and Somaliland, just as probably they were 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 103 

more prone to attack without provocation in the days 
when Jules Gerard hunted lions in French Algeria. At 
any rate this is the opinion of Sir Frederick Jackson, an 
experienced hunter in East Africa, who, although admit- 
ting he had not had a wide experience with lions, seems to 
think they always try to sneak off whenever they can — even 
when wounded. William Judd, perhaps the most experi- 
enced hunter of all game in East Africa, and a man who has 
also killed many lions in South Africa, places the buffalo 
first as the most dangerous animal, and his opinion is 
worthy of the highest consideration. 

Selous bases his argument on the following : — 

" That more accidents have happened in encounters 
with buffaloes than with lions is not that the former is a 
more dangerous animal than the latter, but because, for 
every lion that has been killed in the interior, at least 
fifty buffaloes have been brought to bay," 

All of which is perfectly true. 

Whilst on the subject of the comparative danger of 
various wild beasts it may be interesting briefly to summar- 
ize the views of other experienced hunters. Cuninghame 
and Tarlton place the elephant and the lion equal first, 
with the buffalo third. Sir Frederick Jackson and William 
Judd say the buffalo is easily first as a dangerous foe ; 
whilst Captain Stigand assigns the danger in the following 
order, viz. : lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, buffalo. 
Sir Samuel Baker makes a more curious order — elephant, 
rhinoceros, buffalo, and lion the last. Oddly enough, only 
one hunter, namely Drummond, places the rhinoceros as 
the worst, but it must be remembered that when he hunted 
in South Africa heavy rifles were scarce and somewhat 
inadequate. 

Nevertheless, despite all these very divided opinions, it 
is generally agreed amongst all professional hunters, both 
Boers and British, with whom I have discussed the question, 
both in East and South Africa, that the buffalo is perhaps 
the most dangerous animal, because he is so hard to stop 
and offers generally so sudden, so determined, and so un- 
favourable a target when actually charging. 



104 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

When actually wounded and charging there is little 

doubt that the buffalo is the toughest of all, because he 

bursts out suddenly from a concealed spot and presents no 

vulnerable target, and I know from actual experience how 

helpless a man feels when one of these brutes comes grunting 

fiercely at his heels. Of course no man of sense does go 

poking about in dense bush after a wounded buffalo, but 

then all hunters are foolhardy sometimes and trouble 

ensues. We hate to leave a wounded animal, especially if 

it carries a good head. Thus have nearly all the numerous 

fatal accidents happened. A charging elephant is nearly 

always turned by a frontal shot, whereas a buffalo is never 

stopped unless it is mortally hit, but the chief danger in 

elephant-hunting seems to be (so Neumann thought) from 

outside sources — that is from vicious cows in the same herd 

which may be encountered suddenly. Neumann was an 

exceedingly brave man, and in his first trips was only 

armed with an ordinary -256 Mannhcher throwing a solid 

bullet. His method was to creep right in amongst a herd 

and shoot the best bull through the heart. This often did 

not kill it at once, and rendered him liable to be charged 

suddenly by other members of the herd. Wherefore he 

rightly estimates that his own form of hunting was the most 

dangerous of all African hunting. When he got a double 

•450 high-velocity Rigby he killed elephants much more 

easily and did not have nearly so many narrow escapes. 

It therefore seems to be the case that, armed with modern 

weapons, the hunter of elephants runs no especial risk if 

he does not try in the first instance to get too close to his 

quarry and gives it a side shot in the right place, whilst in 

the case of a charging animal the lion is the easiest to stop 

and the elephant the easiest to turn and the buffalo the 

hardest to kill. Yet if a quiet shot can be got at a buffalo 

bull before he has seen the hunter there seems to be little 

if any danger to the hunter. 

Men who have encountered thousands of buffalo have told 
us that they have never seen an unwounded buffalo charge 
and that this only occurs when the hunter suddenly meets 
one face to face in the bush. But even this is not quite correct. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 105 

Speaking of buffaloes and their aggressiveness, Selous 
says : " Although many accidents happen in the pursuit 
of these animals, yet, in my opinion, the danger incurred 
in hunting them is marvellously exaggerated. Having 
shot nearly two hundred buffaloes to my own rifle, and 
followed very many of them when wounded into very 
thick bush, I think I have had sufficient experience to 
express an opinion on the subject." He suggests that, in 
the majority of cases when disasters occurred from a sudden 
attack, apparently without provocation, the buffalo which 
charged had probably been wounded by another hunter, 
and cites many instances to confirm this. Moreover, it 
may be added that buffaloes in old age often become deaf 
and lie in the bush until suddenly encountered by a man. 
Then a charge generally ensues because the meeting was 
unexpected. 

Although Selous held that lions are the most dangerous 
of all opponents, by his own accounts his escapes from in- 
furiated buffaloes were quite as numerous as those from the 
great cats. 

Whilst hunting on the Chobe in 1877 he knocked down 
a young bull from a herd which gave him a very bad live 
minutes. As he was standing close to the bull, which he 
saw was only stunned, it suddenly rose to its feet and 
seemingly took no notice of a bullet fired point-blank into 
its chest. Selous ran past the bull, which catching sight 
of some of the Kafirs at once charged them, grunting 
furiously. 1 

" I was now by my tree, watching events and putting 
another cartridge into my rifle. The buffalo having missed 
my boys, who had all climbed into or were standing behind 
trees, soon slowed down to a trot, but was evidently still 
eager for revenge, as he came round in a half -circle with 
nose upraised and horns laid back. I was just going to fire 
at him, when he must have got my wind, for he suddenly 
swung round and, seeing me, came on at a gallop as hard as 
he could. He was about one hundred yards off when he 
started, and when he was some sixty yards from me I fired 

1 " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 433-434. 



io6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

for his throat ; but he neither stopped nor swerved nor 
showed in any way that he was hit, but came straight on. 
I had plenty of time, and could have swarmed up the 
branchless stem of the sapling by which I was standing, 
and got out of his reach with the greatest ease ; but, as 
my legs were bare, I knew that such a course meant the 
loss of a lot of skin, so I determined to dodge him. I was 
young and active in those days, and full of confidence in 
my nerve, so, holding the stem of the tree in my left hand, 
I leant out as far as possible and awaited the onset. When 
he was very near me — so close, indeed, as to preclude the 
possibility of his being able to swerve and pass on the other 
side of the tree — I pulled my body with a sudden jerk up 
to and beyond the stem, and, shooting past the buffalo's 
hind-quarters, ran as hard as ever I could to another tree 
standing in the direction from which he had come. I knew 
that by this manoeuvre I should gain a good deal of ground, 
as, even if my adversary had followed me, the pace at 
which he was going was such that he would not have been 
able to turn till he had got some way past the tree where I 
had given him the slip. Had he come round after me I 
should now have climbed for it ; but, as I expected, when 
I dodged from under his very nose and shot past behind 
him he lost me entirely and ran straight on. He did not, 
however, go far, but stopped and lay down, and I killed 
him with another bullet." 

Again on the Chobe in 1879 he wounded an old bull, 
which he followed through open bush. The buffalo was, 
however, concealed as usual, and charged suddenly at ten 
yards' distance. 

" I had no time to raise the rifle to my shoulder," he says, 
" but swinging it round to my hips, just pulled the trigger, 
and at the same time sprang to one side. At the same 
moment I was covered with a shower of sand, and some 
part of the buffalo, nose or horn or shoulder, touched my 
thigh with sufficient force to overthrow me, but without 
hurting me in the least. I was on my feet again in a moment, 
ready to run for it, but saw that my adversary was on the 
ground bellowing, with a hind-leg, evidently broken, 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 107 

dragging out behind him. Before he recovered himself I 
despatched him with a bullet through the lungs." 

In April, 1877, Selous again reached Tati and, after a 
visit to Lobengula, at once trekked north to the Zambesi 
in the hope of securing elephants. This time he was accom- 
panied by Mr. Kingsley, an Englishman, and Mr. Miller, 
a young colonist who was a first-rate shot. He had also 
several native hunters in his service. However, the whole 
trip resulted, as far as elephants were concerned, in a 
complete failure, only Miller killing two male animals. At 
Gerva he met his old friends Dorehill and Horner, who had 
both been seriously ill with fever, while his good friend 
Lieutenant Grandy had died from the same cause. 

When Selous reached the Chobe he found that the ele- 
phants had all disappeared, but does not state the cause, 
which I have since ascertained was probably due to the 
great drives organized by Sepopo, Chief of the Barotsi, in 
the triangle of the Chobe-Zambesi delta. Apropos of this, 
my friend McLeod of McLeod gave me the following account. 
In 1875 he, with Dorehill and W. Fairlie, trekked up from 
the south and left their waggons at Pandamatenka on the 
Zambesi. Here they crossed the river and went in on foot, 
intending to hunt in the Barotsi country. After good 
sport with game, Sepopo received the party kindly and 
invited them to a great elephant drive which annually took 
place in September in the junction formed by the meeting 
of the Chobe and Zambesi rivers. Many thousands of 
natives took part in this great hunt. A line of fire enclosed 
the base of the triangle, into which several hundred ele- 
phants had been driven, whilst some thousands of natives 
in canoes lay in the rivers on each flank to cut off elephants 
and shoot and spear them in the water as they broke out. 
When all was in readiness the lines from the base fires 
advanced and the elephants began to break back and the 
shooting began. " Such a fusillade," remarked McLeod, 
" more resembled a battle than a hunt ; the firing was of 
the wildest description, and so inaccurate that we were in 
constant danger of losing our lives. At the end of the day 
only nine elephants were killed by our party and the natives 



io8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

round us, whilst the majority broke through our cordon 
and that of the fire behind and escaped. A considerable 
number, however, were speared and shot on the rivers on 
each flank. Several men were killed and wounded in the 
attack." 

The following year (1876) another great hunt of similar 
character took place, and late in the season Scpopo was 
assassinated and the whole country thrown into a state of 
anarchy. 

These great hunts, scaring the elephants out of the whole 
district, would account for Selous' bad luck in 1877, but he 
seemed to have enjoyed himself hunting buffalo, of which 
he killed no fewer than forty-five in four months on the 
Chobe. He states that he experienced a few dangers and 
one rather narrow escape. 

■pi Selous, although he did not consider the buffalo so 
dangerous an antagonist as the lion, had his full share of 
adventures with them. His escape from an old bull which 
killed his horse under him, on the Nata river in May, 1874, 
was almost miraculous, for a buffalo seldom leaves his 
victim once he has got him down. 

He found two old buffalo bulls and galloped within three 
yards of them, and the rifle missed fire. After another chase 
one of the bulls, getting annoyed, stood and offered a good 
shot, and the cap again played the hunter false. ^ 

" Putting on a third cap, I now kept it down with my 
thumb, and was soon once more close behind him, and had 
galloped for perhaps a couple of minutes more, when, 
entering a patch of short thick mopani bush, he stopped 
suddenly, wheeled round, and came on at once, as soon as 
he caught sight of the horse, with his nose stretched straight 
out and horns laid back, uttering the short grunts with 
which these animals invariably accompany a charge. 

" There was no time to be lost, as I was not more than 
forty yards from him ; so, reining in with a jerk and turning 
the horse at the same instant broadside on, I raised my gun, 
intending to put a ball, if possible, just between his neck 
and shoulder, which, could I have done so, would either 

1 " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 279-281. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS loq 

have knocked him down, or at any rate made him swerve, 
but my horse, instead of standing steady as he had always 
done before, now commenced walking forward, though he 
did not appear to take any notice of the buffalo. There 
was no time to put my hand down and give another wrench 
on the bridle (which I had let fall on the horse's neck) , and 
for the life of me I could not get a sight with the horse in 
motion. A charging buffalo does not take many seconds to 
cover forty yards, and in another instant his outstretched 
nose was within six feet of me, so, lowering the gun from 
my shoulder, I pulled it off right in his face, at the same 
time digging the spurs deep into my horse's sides. But it 
was too late, for even as he sprang forward the old bull 
caught him full in the flank, pitching him, with me on his 
back, into the air like a dog. The recoil of the heavily- 
charged elephant-gun with which I was unluckily shooting, 
twisted it clean out of my hands, so that we all, horse, gun, 
and man, fell in different directions. My horse regained 
its feet and galloped away immediately, but even with a 
momentary glance I saw that the poor brute's entrails were 
protruding in a dreadful manner. The buffalo, on tossing 
the horse, had stopped dead, and now stood with his head 
lowered within a few feet of me. I had fallen in a sitting 
position, and facing my unpleasant-looking adversary. I 
could see no wound on him, so must have missed, though 
I can scarcely understand how, as he was so very close when 
I fired. 

" However, I had not much time for speculation, for the 
old brute, after glaring at me a few seconds with his sinister- 
looking bloodshot eyes, finally made up his mind and, with 
a grunt, rushed at me. I threw my body out flat along the 
ground to one side, and just avoided the upward thrust of 
his horn, receiving, however, a severe blow on the left 
shoulder with the round part of it, nearly dislocating my 
right arm with the force with which my elbow was driven 
against the ground, and receiving also a kick on the instep 
from one of his feet. Luckily for me, he did not turn again, 
as he most certainly would have done had he been wounded, 
but galloped clean away. 



no THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" The first thing to be done was to look iiftor my horse, 
and at about 150 yards from where he had been tossed I 
found him. The buffalo had struck him full in the left 
thigh ; it was an awful wound, and, as the poor beast was 
evidently in the last extremity, I hastily loaded my gun 
and put him out of his misery. My Kafirs coming up just 
then, 1 started with them, eager for vengeance, in pursuit 
of the buffalo, but was compelled finally to abandon the 
chase, leaving my poor horse unavenged." 

Curiously enough, McLeod met with an almost identical 
accident on the Nata in 1875. The buffalo struck the horse 
behind in his charge, and horse, rifie, and rider were all 
thrown to the ground. Although McLeod was lying helpless, 
the buffalo confined its fury to the horse and struck it with 
his horns till life was extinct. Then, without looking at 
McLeod, who had been thrown into a thorn-bush, it galloped 
away. 

Selous gives several instances of the tenacity of life and 
viciousness retained to the last moment of the buffalo.^ 

" Once, in 1874, when hunting with George Wood near 
the Chobe, we came upon an old buffalo bull lying down in 
some long grass. My friend gave him a bullet as he lay, 
upon which he jumped up and stood behind some mopani 
trees, only exposing his head and hind-quarters on either 
side their stems. After eyeing us for a few seconds he 
turned and went off at a gallop, but before he had gone 
many yards. Wood fired at him with his second gun and 
knocked him over ; he was on his legs again in a moment, 
and, wheeling round, came straight towards me at a heavy 
gallop, his nose stretched straight out and grunting furiously. 
When he was abtnit twenty yards irom me I fired with my 
large four-bore elejihant-gun and struck him fair in the 
chest. This staggered but did not stop him, for, swerving 
slightly, he made straight for the Katir carrying my second 
gun ; this the man at once threw down and conunenced 
cUmbing a tree. The buffalo just brought his right horn 
past the tree, and scraping it up the trunk so as to send all 
the loose pieces of bark flying, caught the Kafir a severe 

* " A lluuter's Waiuloiinys, ' pji. ^8.:-.283. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS iii 

blow on the inside of the knee, nearly knocking him out of 
the tree. The sturdy beast then ran about twenty yards 
farther, knelt gently down and, stretching forth its nose, 
commenced to bellow, as these animals almost always do 
when dying ; in a few minutes it was lying dead." 

Buffaloes wounded by man or lions are always dangerous. 

" One cold winter morning in 1873, I left my camp before 
sunrise, and had not walked a quarter of a mile skirting 
round the base of a low hill, when, close to the same path I 
was following, and not twenty yards off, I saw an old buffalo 
bull lying under a bush. He was lying head on towards us, 
but did not appear to notice us. My gun-carriers were 
behind, having lingered, Kafir-like, over the camp-fire, but 
had they been nearer me I should not have fired for fear of 
disturbing elephants, of which animals I was in search. 

" As I stood looking at the buffalo, Minyama, one of my 
Kafirs, threw an assegai at it from behind me, which, 
grazing its side, just stuck in the skin on the inside of its 
thigh. Without more ado, the ugly-looking old beast 
jumped up and came trotting out, with head up and nose 
extended, evidently looking for the disturbers of its peace, 
and as Minyama was hiding behind the trunk of a large tree, 
and the rest of the Kafirs had made themselves scarce, it at 
once came straight at me, grunting furiously. I was standing 
close to a very small tree, not more than six inches in 
diameter, but as I was unarmed, and to run would have 
been useless, I swarmed up it with marvellous celerity. 
The buffalo just came up and looked at me, holding his nose 
close to my feet, and grunting all the time. He then turned 
and went off at a lumbering canter, and I then, for the first 
time, saw that he had been terribly torn and scratched on 
the hind-quarters and shoulders by lions. Had he tried to 
knock my little sapling down, he might, I think, easily have 
accomplished it ; as it was, my legs being bare, and the 
bark of the tree very rough, I had rubbed a lot of skin off 
the insides of my knees and the calves of my legs."^ 

Buffaloes, if the ground is hard, can go at a great pace 
and can outrun a horse for some distance. It once took 

' " A Hunter's Wanderings," p. 283. 



112 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

me a chase of five miles before I got up with a big bull on 
whose head I had set my desires. " In 1873," wTJtcs Selous, 
" a buffalo cow, although severely wounded, ran down in 
the open a horse Lobengnla had lent me, and on which 
my Hottentot driver was mounted ; she struck the horse 
as it was going at full speed between the thighs with her 
nose, and, luckily striking short, knocked it over on one side 
and sent its rider flying, but before she could do further 
damage a bullet through her shoulders from George Wood 
incapacitated her for further mischief." 

He seems to have been much depressed at this time as 
to his prospects of making a living— at any rate as an 
elephant-lnmter and trader. " Nothing^ has gone right 
with me since I left England, nor do I think it ever will 
again. I was born under an unlucky star, for even if I do 
not suffer from personal and particular bad fortune, I seem 
just to hit off the particular year and the particular part of 
the country for my speculation when and where everything 
has gone to rack and ruin. Had I left England in October, 
1875, instead of February, 1876, I should in all human 
probability have done fairly well, and been able to return 
to England at the beginning of the next year (1878), for 
last year 40,000 lbs. of ivory were traded at the Zambesi 
alone, and every hunter did well. This year, owing prin- 
cipally to Sepopo's assassination, only 2500 lbs. have been 
traded, and not a hunter has earned his salt. But, mind 
you, I do not yet despair ; I am still well to the good, and, 
if I can only get to a country which is not worked out, I will 
soon get a few pounds together." Later the same year he 
writes to his father (October 17th, 1877) : " On this side 
of the river elephant-hunting is at an end, all the elephants 
being either killed or driven away. I am now going to try 
and go down the Zambesi to Tete — a Portuguese settlement, 
and from there to the new missionary settlement at Lake 
Nyassa." 

After returning to Pandamatenka in 1877, Selous went 
down the Zambesi with a Mr. Owen and with donkeys, bent 
on trading and hunting in the " fly " north of the river. 

' LotttT to bis niotlior. 




y 



A . 




THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 113 

Eight days later he crossed at Wankie's Town and reached 
Mwemba's kraal — that chief being an important local chief 
of the Batongas. Mwemba was much pleased to see the 
travellers, as he stated they were the first white men he had 
ever met. The donkeys, too, were new beasts to him. 

We need scarcely follow Selous' wanderings in the pesti- 
lential climate of the Zambesi valley during the next few 
months. He was completely disappointed in finding 
elephants, and both he and his companion suffered severely 
from fever in the deadly climate. All down the river he 
had daily evidence of the evil doings of the Portuguese, who 
employed the Shakundas to capture and enslave Batongan 
girls for their use and subsequent trade in human flesh. 
The price paid for a girl was usually an old musket or 
about twenty rupees. Near the mouth of the Kafukwe the 
travellers met Canyemba and Mendonca, head chiefs of the 
Shakundas, who appeared to be a proper pair of scoundrels, 
but small-pox was raging here, so Selous and Owen did not 
stay for long, but went north into the Manica country on 
December 13th. Hence they got up to the high country 
and shot a little game, including some konze (Liechtenstein's 
hartebeest), the first Selous had seen. 

On January 6th they reached the kraal of Sitanda, head 
chief of the Manica country. " We found the old fellow a 
slight-built old Kafir, with an astute thin-featured face, 
sitting outside his hut with about a dozen cronies. When 
his people first come up to him to report any news, they 
roll on their backs in the dust before him, and subsequently, 
when talking to him, lie down on their sides and rub one 
shoulder in the dust at the conclusion of every sentence." 

The Kafukwe country looking unpromising for elephants, 
Selous then resolved to go north to the Mashukulumbwe 
country, but this was prevented by the breakdown of Owen, 
who became seriously ill with fever. A few days later, after 
hunting lechwes in a swamp, Selous himself became ill, 
and for a fortnight both the travellers experienced all the 
trials of malarial fever. Sitanda was of course delighted, 
and hoped they would soon die and he could annex all their 
trade goods. He, in fact, refused them all help in the way 



114 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

of food and porters in the manner usual to a savage who 
thinks he has white men in his power. The chief had given 
orders to all his people not to help the unfortunate invalids, 
no matter what pajanent was offered. Finally, poor Selous 
was reduced to " buying," for 320 loaded cartridges, one 
Kafir boy from a Portuguese. " The Portuguese told me I 
must watch him well in the daytime, and tie him up at 
night ; however, I explained to him, through one of m}^ 
boys, that, although I had bought him, I did not want to 
keep him for a slave, and that if he would carry for me as 
far as the Zambesi, he might go where he liked afterwards, 
or continue working with me for wages." 

On January 24th Selous and Owen left this " accursed 
spot where we had spent eighteen miserable days." Ill and 
weak they staggered south, and five days later " the slave " 
ran away with a valuable breech -loading elephant-gun. 
This, however, was recovered, but not the whole stock of 
Martini-Henry cartridges and corn which was essential to 
existence. 

Thoroughly worn out, they reached the Zambesi at last 
on February i8th. No game had fallen to their rifles, as 
both were too ill to hunt. 

After getting more provisions and carriers from Mendonca 
the party struck south, but after April ist Owen was so 
weak that he had to be carried. Selous, however, improved 
a little when he reached the healthier country, but was still 
weak and unsuccessful in what little hunting he did. More- 
over, the Banyais carrying Owen struck work, so Selous 
decided to leave him in charge of his faithful Basuto servant 
Franz and himself to push on to the waggons at Inyati and 
to send back help to his friend. On April 17th, he bade good- 
bye to Owen, and reached Inyati on May 4th, sending seven 
men to the Gweo, where Owen rested, and they eventually 
brought him out safely to the Matabele country. 

After this unfortunate trip Selous was much depressed in 
mind, feeling that the whole country south of the Zambesi 
was played out for the trader and the hunter. Writing to 
his mother from Tati (May 28th, 1878), he expresses all his 
gloomy anticipations — doubtless the after effects of fever 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 115 

from which he had not yet recovered. " I am afraid that 
if I ever get home again you will find me much changed for 
the worse in temper and disposition. Continual never- 
ending misfortune in small matters and the failure of every 
speculation has changed me from a tolerably Hght-hearted 
fellow into a morose sad-tempered man. It is all very well 
to say that one can but do his best and that sort of thing, 
but in this world a man's merit and worth are measured 
solely according to his success and by no other standard. 
During the last year almost everybody has been ruined, and 
all the smaller traders sold up. Next year I am going to 
try a new country to the north of Ovampoland in South- 
Western Africa. Things cannot be worse there than they 
are here, and from all I can learn probably much better. 
If there is nothing to be done there, I am sure I don't know 
what I shall do, but think of trying the Western States of 
North America. To try farming in this country with the 
luck against one would never do, for there is not one but 
twenty diseases to which all sorts of live stock are subject ; 
all of them unknown in America and Australia." 

Selous was far from well after this trying trip, and it took 
him two months to recover from its effects, so it was not till 
August that he set off again, after getting permission from 
Lobengula, to hunt in the Mashuna country, where he 
hoped to join his friends Clarkson, Cross, and Wood, who 
had gone north in the previous June. 

On August 20th he left Inyati, in company with Mr. 
Goulden (Clarkson's partner), and trekked north. On the 
30th he reached the Gwenia, where he found the old Boer 
hunter Jan Viljoen and his family. Here he had some sport 
with sable antelopes, and moved on the next day and reached 
the Umniati on September 6th, and on September 8th the 
Gwazan, where he shot a bull sable. After crossing the 
Sweswe, where he found the Neros, well-known Griqua 
elephant -hunters, he heard that his friends were on the 
Umfule river, two days north. Here he learnt that Clarkson 
and Wood had killed eight bull elephants in one day, 
September 8th ; so was anxious to join them as soon as 
possible after this exciting piece of news. 



Ii6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

On reaching the encampment of his friends he heard they 
were away on the Hanyane river, so he at once decided to 
follow them. Next day vSeloiis killed a sable bull and met his 
friends close to the scene of the elephant slaughter of the 
previous Sunday. Clarkson and Wood had already killed 
forty elephants, and had to record the death of Ouabeet, 
Wood's head Kafir, by a tuskless bull elephant. Selous 
gives some particulars of this unhappy event in a letter to 
his mother (December 25th, 1878) : " Mr. Clarkson came 
across a troop of elephants and commenced shooting at 
them. Whilst killing one he heard another screaming 
terrifically, and galloped in that direction but saw nothing. 
In the evening Ouabeet was missing, but no one thought 
anything could have happened to him except that he had 
lost himself. On the second day, however, as he did not 
turn up, Clarkson bethought him of the continuous scream- 
ing he had heard, and remembered to have seen a gigantic 
tuskless bull tiu-n out by himself, whose spoor he resolved 
to follow the next morning. This he did, and soon found the 
place where the elephant had chased a man ; there he found 
Ouabeet's gun, and near it the odds and ends of skin he 
had worn round his waist and finally what remained of 
Quabeet. The poor fellow had been torn into three pieces. 
The elephant must have held him down with his foot and 
then torn him asunder with his trunk." 

On September 14th the party found a herd of cow ele- 
phants and shot six, and on September 17th they all went 
north-east to the mahobo-hobo forests which lie between 
the Umsengasi and Hanyane rivers to look for elephants. 
The same evening they found two old bulls near the Umbila 
river. Selous quickly killed three bulls and a cow. " The 
fourth I tackled," he says, " cost me six bullets and gave 
me a smart chase, for my horse was now dead beat. I only 
got away at all by the skin of my teeth as, although the 
infuriated animal whilst charging trumpeted all the time 
like a railway engine, I could not get my tired horse out of a 
canter until he was close upon me, and I firmly believe that 
had he not been so badly wounded he would have caught me. 
I know the shrill screaming sounded impleasantly near." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 117 

Immediately after this episode the herd of elephants 
showed signs of exhaustion. " The poor animals were now 
completely knocked up, throwing water (taken from their 
stomachs) over their heated bodies as they walked slowly 
along." But the hunters stuck to them until their cart- 
ridges were exhausted ; all, that is to say, except Selous, 
who had still thirteen left. 

Selous then selected a big cow for his'^^next victim, and 
experienced one of the narrowest escapes of his whole 
adventurous life.^ 

" Having picked out a good cow for my fifth victim, I 
gave her a shot behind the shoulder, on which she turned 
from the herd and walked slowly away by herself. As I 
cantered up behind her, she wheeled round and stood 
facing me, with her ears spread and her head raised. My 
horse was now so tired that he stood well, so, reining in, I 
gave her a shot from his back between the neck and the 
shoulder, which I believe just stopped her from charging. 
On receiving this wound she backed a few paces, gave her 
ears a flap against her sides, and then stood facing me again. 
I had just taken out the empty cartridge and was about to 
put a fresh one in, when, seeing that she looked very vicious, 
and as I was not thirty yards from her, I caught the bridle 
and turned the horse's head away, so as to be ready for a 
fair start in case of a charge. I was still holding my rifle 
with the breech open when I saw that she was coming. 
Digging the spurs into my horse's ribs, I did my best to 
get him away, but he was so thoroughly done that, instead 
of springing forwards, which was what the emergency 
required, he only started at a walk and was just breaking 
into a canter when the elephant was upon us. I heard two 
short sharp screams above my head, and had just time to 
think it was all over with me, when, horse and all, I was 
dashed to the ground. For a few seconds I was half-stunned 
by the violence of the shock, and the first thing I became 
aware of was a very strong smell of elephant. At the same 
instant I felt that I was still unhurt and that, although in 
an unpleasant predicament, I had stiU a chance for life. 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 339-340- 



ii8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

I was, however, pressed down on the ground in such a way 
that I could not extricate my head. At last with a violent 
effort I wrenched myself loose, and threw my body over 
sideways, so that I rested on my hands. As I did so I saw 
the hind legs of the elephant standing like two pillars 
before me, and at once grasped the situation. She was on 
her knees, with her head and tusks in the ground, and I had 
been pressed down under her chest, but luckily behind her 
forelegs. Dragging myself from under her, I regained my 
feet and made a hasty retreat, having had rather more than 
enough of elephants for the time being. I retained, however, 
sufficient presence of mind to run slowly, watching her 
movements over my shoulder and directing mine accord- 
ingly. Almost immediately I had made my escape she got 
up and stood looking for me, with her ears up and head 
raised, turning first to one side and then to the other, but 
never quite wheeling round. As she made these turns, I 
ran obliquely to the right or left, as the case might be, 
always endeavouring to keep her stern towards me. At 
length I gained the shelter of a small bush and breathed 
freely once more." 

After a time he recovered his rifle and again attacked a 
cow which he thought was his late assailant, and killed her 
with two more shots, but she proved to be a different beast. 

Selous did not escape quite scatheless from this encounter, 
for his eye was badly bruised and the skin all rubbed off the 
right breast. His horse, too, was badly injured, though he 
recovered after two months. Altogether, on this great and 
exciting day, no fewer than twenty-two elephants, realizing 
700 lbs. of ivory, were killed by Selous, Clarkson, and Wood. 

On September 24th the hunters killed five old bull 
elephants near the Hanyane, and shortly afterwards, 
elephants becoming shy, the party broke up. Cross, Goulden, 
and Wood going to the Umfule, and Clarkson and Selous 
remaining near the Hanyane. Both parties were, however, 
quite unsuccessful in hunting bull elephants, either in the 
neighbourhood of these rivers or in short trips they made 
into the " fly " region along the Umniati, Sebakwe, and 
Sc-quoi-quoi rivers. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 119 

After enjoying some sport with the various large ante- 
lopes and witnessing an exciting chase and attack made by 
a single hunting-dog on a sable antelope, the party turned 
northwards and reached Gwenia, where the Viljoens were 
camped, on December nth, just as the heavy rains set in. 

Here Selous had a piece of good luck. A lioness attacked 
the Viljoens' cattle at ten o'clock one morning and went off 
with a calf. The dogs, however, were at once loosed, and 
soon brought the marauder to bay. Jantje, a Hottentot, 
and one of the Viljoens' Kafirs ran at once to the scene of 
tumult, when both of them fired and missed, but Selous 
got an easy chance at forty yards, and killed her with a 
bullet through the shoulders. On December 25th he wrote 
to his mother telling her that his plans for the following 
year were uncertain. He hoped to go " to the country 
north of Lake Ngami, but may spend the winter with the 
Volunteers against the Zulus if the war comes on." 



CHAPTER V 

1879-1880 

I IKE all big game hunters Seloiis always dreamed 
of a land teeming with game where other hunters 
^ had not been and scared the game away. He saw 
by this time that the old hunting-grounds, at least as far as 
elephants were concerned, were finished, and that he must 
find for himself a new field to exploit if such a place existed. 
The difficulties, however, even to such a man as himself, were 
immense, because the " fly " debarred him to the east and 
north, whilst to the west was nothing but a waterless desert 
where no elephants could live. If therefore he was to find 
the virgin country it must be far to the north where he could 
not take his waggons. The country on which he had set his 
heart was the Mashukulumbwe, and though no hunters had 
been there, he heard from natives that it was full of elephants. 
In 1877 he had tried to reach it, but owing to the hostility 
of the Portuguese and local chiefs beyond the Zambesi, and 
the subsequent illness of himself and his friend, he had been 
obliged to abandon the venture. Now, however, in 1879, he 
conceived a plan to cross the desert to Bamangwato, when 
he hoped to kill gemsbuck, which had so far eluded him, and 
to hunt on the Chobe, which always held a peculiar attrac- 
tion for him, then to leave his waggons and visit the un- 
known portions of the Barotsi country and strike east to 
the Mashukulumbwe. He expected that this journey would 
extend over two or three years, so in January he trekked 
south to Klerksdorp in the Transvaal, where he laid in 
stores and ammunition for the long trip. 

On April 14th he reached Bamangwato and obtained 
permission from Khama to travel through the Kalahari to 
iho Mababe river. This time young Miller again accom- 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 121 

panied him as well as another young colonist of German 
extraction named Sell. Khama sent with Selous a grumpy 
disagreeable old Kafir named Ai-eetsee-upee (the man who 
knows nothing) to look after the waggons. Five other 
coloured men completed the party. 

On May 4th they reached the Botletlie river. " This," 
says Selous, " is one of the most abominable spots I have 
yet visited : one small mud hole from which a little filthy 
water was all we could get for ourselves or the oxen, yet on 
the map this river looks like a young Mississippi." 

On May 8th to the west of the Botletlie, Selous reached 
an encampment of bushmen, who told him there v.^ere 
giraffes in the bush close at hand. An old bull was soon 
found. " I gave the giraffe four shots," says Selous, " and 
then, seeing that he was done for, galloped round him, upon 
which he stood reeling under a tree, and I was just pulling 
my horse in, when a lion, a lioness, and two half -grown cubs 
jumped out of the bushes just in front of me and trotted 
slowly away. Just at this moment, too, I saw four stately 
giraffe cows walk out of the bush in single file about 500 
yards ahead. The lion, after trotting a few paces, turned 
round and stood, broadside on, looking at me, offering a 
splendid shot. I was on the ground in a moment and gave 
him a bullet just behind the shoulder. With a growl he 
galloped away for about 100 yards, and then rolled over on 
his side, stone dead. I just rode up to assure myself of the 
fact, and then galloped on after the giraffe cows." Two of 
these he also killed. 

On May loth he saw the first gemsbuck, " the antelope 
of all others of which I longed to shoot a line specimen," but 
after wounding one he lost it. Next day, however, he killed 
a young cow. 

On May 28th they reached the so-called " fountain " of 
Sode-Garra, where the bushmen told him tha+ the country 
to the north was impassable owing to no rain falling the 
previous summer. Never having known the untutored 
savage to tell the truth Selous imagined that the bushmen 
were lying, and so decided to risk it and trek on. The poor 
oxen then had a terrible time ; they got no water for two 



122 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

days and nights except a little moisture at one spot. On 
the fourth day they reached the sand-belts and pans just 
south of the Mababe flats, and still there was not a drop of 
water. It was here two years previously the famous Boer 
elephant-hunter Martinus Swartz and ten members of his 
family died of fever, only six individuals surviving out of a 
party of seventeen. 

At these dried -up pans, however, Selous found some 
comparatively fresh spoor of buffalo and that meant there 
must be water at no very great distance. Accordingly, he 
abandoned the waggons and accompanied by bullocks, 
horses, dogs and Kafirs went north to the great plain known 
as the Mababe flat. Here they saw grass fires at a distance 
of about twelve miles, but the presence of numerous zebras 
indicated that there was water still nearer. Old Jacob, one 
of his Kafirs, now said there was a small vley close at hand. 
" We went to look," writes Selous, " and five minutes later 
found a long shallow vley full of water. I could have hugged 
the dirty old man with delight. What a sight it was to see 
the poor thirsty oxen come trotting down to the pan, as 
soon as they smelt the longed-for water, and rush knee-deep 
into it ! What a sudden relief the sight of that pool of 
muddy water was, too, and what a weight of fear and 
anxiety it lifted from our hearts ! Only an hour before it 
had seemed that I was doomed to lose all my live stock — 
nearly everything I possessed in the world — from thirst ; 
and now the danger was past, and not a single ox had given 
in." Next day the oxen were sent back and brought the 
waggons to the vley. 

On June 4th he encountered three lionesses, at one of 
which he had a running shot which knocked her over. 
Soon a second lioness stood and turned to bay, and Selous 
killed her dead with a shot in the head just as she was on 
the point of charging. He then returned to the first wounded 
animal and gave her a shot through the lungs. Two days 
later whilst stalking giraffes he met two full-grown lions 
lying under a bush.^ 

" I now turned my attention to the second lion. As, 

^ " A Hunter's Wanderings," pp. 382-383. 



The life of f. c. selous 123 

owing to the grass, I could not see him clearly, I mounted 
my horse and gave him a shot from the saddle, as he lay 
half-facing me, gazing towards me with an3rthing but a 
pleasant expression of countenance. Whether he realized 
the misfortune which had befallen his comrade or not I 
cannot say, but he certainly had an angry, put-out sort of 
look. As I fired, a loud roar announced that the bullet had 
struck him, and I could see that he was hard hit. He now 
sat on his haunches like a dog, holding his head low, and 
growling savagely. In this position he exposed his chest, 
so hastily pushing in another cartridge, I jumped to the 
ground before he could make up his mind what to do, and 
firing quickly, struck him in the centre of the breast, just 
under the chin. This rolled him over, and riding up, I saw 
that he was in his last agonies, so left him, and took a look 
at the first I had shot, a magnificent old lion with a fine 
black mane, and a skin in beautiful condition, and of a very 
dark colour all over. All this, which has taken so long to 
relate, must have occupied less than a minute of time, and 
the lions being both dead, I again turned my attention to 
the giraffes." 

Two of these, a bull and a cow, he chased and killed. 

A few days later Selous' friend, H. C. Collison, arrived in 
his camp. Collison, with French, had also trekked north 
across the thirst-land, and lost several of their oxen on the 
way. Moreover, to add to these disasters, Clarkson, an 
intimate friend of all three, had been struck by lightning 
and killed near Klerksdorp shortly after their departure 
for the interior. Speaking of Clarkson, to whom he was 
much attached, Selous says : " A better fellow never stepped. 
Short of stature, but very strong and active, he was, like 
most colonists, a capital shot and first-rate rough-rider, 
qualities that could hardly fail to make him a successful 
hunter. Morally speaking, too, he was upright and honour- 
able in his dealings with his fellow-men, cool in danger, and 
as plucky as a bull-dog. May his spirit find a good hunting- 
country in the next world ! " 

A few days later ColUson, French and Selous established 
a permanent hunting-camp on the Mababe river and went 



124 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

north on foot into the " fly." Owing to the size of the party 
they soon separated, French and Miller going to the Sunta 
river, whilst Collison, Sell and Selous went on up the 
Machabe, but afterwards they met on the Chobe. Miller 
and Selous then passed on to Linyanti, where they killed 
four elephants, many buffaloes, and several of the small 
spotted and striped bushbucks peculiar to the Chobe. Here 
Selous tried unsuccessfully to kill a specimen of the sitatunga 
antelope by hunting in a canoe at dawn amongst the reed 
beds, but only saw one female, although he found lying dead 
a fine male killed by a rival. 

On August 23rd Selous obtained permission to hunt 
elephants in the angle of the Chobe and the Zambesi from 
the Barotsi chief Mamele. After a visit to the waggons to 
get stores and ammunition he returned to the Chobe angle 
with French and Miller. Close to Mamele 's town the part}' 
met four lionesses, one of which Selous shot. Buffaloes at 
this time were in immense herds feeding out in the open all 
day, even amongst the native cattle, and Selous shot several 
to provide meat for the Kafirs. 

It was not until September 24th that the party found any 
elephants, and then Selous and Miller killed a young bull, 
four large cows and a heifer. Poor French on this day 
wounded and lost a cow, and contrary to advice, followed 
it into the bush. He was never seen again, and died of 
thirst in the bush. For days Miller and Selous tried to find 
his tracks, but without avail. The loss of his good friend 
made a deep impression on Selous, and for years afterwards 
he never spoke of French, to whom he was greatly attached, 
without showing signs of emotion. To have lost two of his 
best friends in one year depressed him greatly, and to this 
were added constant attacks of malarial fever which made 
him very weak. 

However, at the time he always hoped that French might 
have reached some place of safety on the river and be alive. 
So Selous continued to hunt for elephants until one day 
" Boy," French's gun-bearer, crawled into camp and gave 
an account of his master's death. It appeared that after 
hunting for days in the bush in the wrong direction poor 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 125 

French collapsed, and as he was dying wrote on his rifle the 
words " I cannot go any further ; when I die, peace with 
all." French's two boys, " Boy " and " Nangora," then 
walked all night and struck the river at Linyanti. " For 
several nights," says Selous, " I never slept, as the vision 
of my lost friend wandering about and dying by inches 
continually haunted me." 

Seriously ill as he was, Selous then went to Linyanti, 
hoping to recover the body of his friend and give it decent 
burial, and Mamele promised to send all his people out to 
look for it when the rains came, but it was never found. 
Selous himself was so depressed in mind and worn with 
fever that he did not care to hunt any longer on the Chobe, 
so made for his waggons, which he reached on October nth, 
where he found Sell dangerously ill. MiUer, too, was 
attacked with malaria but soon recovered. 

It was now necessary to wait for the rains, but as they 
did not come Selous, tired of shooting wildebeest and zebra 
on the Mababe flats, once more returned to the Chobe to 
look for elephants. He went as far as Maimi's town, and 
as the rain was now threatening he retraced his steps. By 
the middle of November he again reached the waggons, and 
the much desired rains at last fell. The party got to the 
Botletlie with ease, but between that river and Bamangwato 
the oxen again suffered terribly and were nearly lost owing 
to thirst. Later, in December, Selous reached the Diamond 
Fields, and was there attacked by a low fever which nearly 
cost him his life ; in fact, nothing but the unremitting 
attention and care of his friends, Mrs. Frederick Barber and 
her daughter, Mrs. Alexander Baillie, rescued him from 
death. 

Meanwhile, owing to poHtical blunders. South Africa and 
all its white and black races were in a ferment, and the Zulu 
War in full progress. The usual cause of England's wars 
with savages was acts of rapine or insolence on the part of 
natives living in wild country where the black or red man 
predominated in numbers and a small white population was 
threatened with danger. No such reason, however, was 
the cause of the Zulu war in 1879. Since 1861 the Natal 



126 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

colonists had lived alongside the Zulus in perfect amity, and 
the colonists " felt no real alarm concerning the Zulus until 
the idea was suggested to them by those in authority over 
them." 1 

The real cause, apart from the fact that the Natal farmers 
were annoyed that at their side dwelt a great black popula- 
tion they could neither tax nor force to work for them, was 
the aggression of the Transvaal Boers in a small portion of 
territory owned by Cetawayo, the Zulu king, and lying on 
the Transvaal border. There were two disputed boundary 
lines. The one between Zululand and the Transvaal to the 
south of the Pongolo river, and the other between the Zulus 
and the Swazis, to the north of and parallel with the Pongolo 
river. 

The Swazis had always been hereditary enemies of the 
Zulus, and there was bitter feeling between the two races. 
Nevertheless the real cause of both disputes was the ac- 
quisitiveness of the Boers. In the case of the territory on 
the second boundary line they professed to have obtained 
by cession from the Swazi king in 1855 a strip of land to 
the north-east of the Pongolo river, so as to form a barrier 
between the Swazis and the Zulus ; but the Swazis denied 
having ever made such a cession. It is doubtful, however, 
whether the Swazis had any power to have made such a 
contract, even if it had been made, because the territory in 
question was occupied until 1846 by two Zulu chiefs, 
Puttini and Langalibalele. These chiefs, however, had been 
driven out of Zululand by Umpande (Panda), then king of 
the Zulus. 

As time went on efforts were made to induce Cetawayo 
to allow the boundary territory to be occupied by the Boers, 
but the king sagely replied that as we had suggested that 
this territory belonged to Zululand, and he wished it for 
his own people, he did not see how it could belong to two 
parties. A boundary commission was, however, eventuall}^ 
formed, and asserted that neither party had a claim to the 
whole, whilst distinctly stating that no cession of land had 
been made by the Zulu king past or present. 

* " History of the Zulu War." by Miss Colonsn and Col. l>urnford. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 127 

Other minor causes of the Zulu war were the raids of 
UmbiHni, a Swazi chieftain living under Cetawayo's protec- 
tion, and the forcible capture in Natal of Zulu brides and 
girls who had run away to escape disagreeable marriages. 

On December nth, 1878, the Zulus were presented with 
an ultimatum, of which the demand for the disbandment of 
the Zulu army was the principal clause. Cetawayo agreed 
to some of the demands but asked for time to consult his 
Indunas as regards demobilization. This was, however, 
refused. It would appear that even Cetawayo was anxious 
to avoid war if possible, for at his side stood John Dunn, who 
well knew the power of England. Lord Chelmsford had, 
however, completed his preparations for war, and on 
January 12th crossed the border into Zululand. Then 
followed the disaster of Isandlwana, the splendid defence 
of Rorke's Drift, the battle of Ngingindhlovu, in which the 
Zulus lost heavily, and in July the great battle of Ulundi, 
which finally broke the Zulu forces. 

Selous always enjoyed meeting people who had taken 
part in events in the recent history of South Africa, and one 
day he met at my house General Sir Edward Hutton, who 
told us the following story of the capture of Cetawayo. 

" After the defeat of the Zulus at Ulundi," remarked Sir 
Edward, " they scattered in all directions and we sent out 
small patrols throughout the country to search for the 
king. On this occasion the Zulus behaved in the most 
magnanimous manner. Although they could with ease 
have annihilated the majority of these patrols, not one was 
attacked, for they felt that the supreme test had been 
passed and their army utterly defeated. I believe that one 
day after the battle of Ulundi it would have been safe for 
an English lady to have walked across Zululand unmolested, 
so noble was the behaviour of the natives. I was attached 
to a patrol under Major Marter, k.d.g., and we came up 
with the king at Nisaka's kraal in the Ngome Forest. 

" Cetawayo was seated in a hut attended by two of his 
chief wives. Marter entered the hut with myself and 
explained to the king that his presence was required by 
Sir Garnet Wolseley, and that he must come at once. 



128 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Cetawayo promptly refused. Marter took out his watch 
and stated that he would give him five minutes to decide. 
The black monarch still refused to move. ' I will now give 
you five minutes more,' said Marter, ' and then if you are 
still obstinate I shall set fire to the hut,' 

" The King remained obdurate. Then Marter drew from 
his pocket a box of matches, and I still seem to see clearly 
the expression on Cetawayo's face as he listened to the 
scraping of the match on the box. Cetawayo, who was an 
immense man, and at the moment perfectly naked, then 
rose with great dignity and stalked out of the hut. Here he 
threw a large kaross over his shoulder and stood there 
looking every inch a king. 

" ' Where are you taking me ? ' he observed. 

" * That I cannot tell you,' repUed Marter. 

" ' Well, I refuse to go,' came the answer. 

" The King was then seized by soldiers and put upon a 
litter and thus carried with his wives to a waggon which was 
awaiting." 

Selous was much interested in this story, and then told 
us the following interesting tale which I never heard him 
repeat before or later. It has always been a puzzle to me 
how he knew Cetawayo, for after man}^ enquiries amongst 
his family and friends I have been unable to learn when he 
visited Zululand, for otherwise he could not have known 
the Zulu king. Yet the fact remains that he distinctly said 
on this occasion that he had met the black monarch in some 
of his past wanderings. 

" I had known Cetawayo formerly, and when he was 
confined in Robben Island shortly after the conclusion of 
the war, I thought I would go down one day when I was in 
Cape Town and have a chat with him. I found him much 
as I had known him, but more corpulent and somewhat 
depressed. After some general conversation I said : 

" ' Well, Cetawayo, what do you think of John Dunn 
now ? ' 

" This I knew was a sore point with the king, for he had 
treated John Dunn like a brother and given him wives, 
slaves and lands as one of his own head indunas. Dunn had 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 129 

afterwards deserted him and given all his help and informa- 
tion to Sir Garnet Wolseley. 

" Cetawayo thought deeply for a few moments, and then 
said, ' One very cold and stormy night in winter I was 
seated before a large fire in my hut when there was a noise 
without as if someone was arriving. I asked the cause 
from my attendants, and they told me a white man in a 
miserable state of destitution had just arrived and claimed 
my hospitality. I ordered the slaves to bring him in, and 
a tall splendidly made man appeared. He was dressed in 
rags, for his clothes had been torn to pieces in fighting 
through the bush, and he was shivering from fever and ague. 
I drew my cloak aside and asked him to sit by the fire, and 
told the servants to bring food and clothing. I loved this 
white man as a brother and made him one of my head 
indunas, giving him lands and wives, the daughters of my 
chiefs. Now Shaunele {the sun has gone down), and John 
Dunn is sitting by the fire hut he does not draw his cloak 
aside.' " 

Such is the black man's reasoning, and can we controvert 
it with uplifted heads ? 

After the Zulu war McLeod asked some of the chiefs 
why they went to war with us. They replied, " The Right 
of the Strong. Now you have proved you are the strongest 
we will look up to you and follow you." Except for one 
trifling insurrection under Denizulu, which was quickly 
nipped in the bud, the Zulus have since accepted our 
suzerainty. 

The following example of the intellect and common-sense 
of the South African native is given to me by McLeod of 
McLeod, who was in charge of the Swazis both in the Zulu 
war and the subsequent attack on Sekukuni, the paramount 
chief of Basutoland. 

McLeod called upon Ubandini, the Swazi king, to raise 
some 8000 levies. This army was then about to set out for 
Basutoland, there to join our forces under Sir Garnet 
Wolseley. The following conversation took place : — 

McL. "It is agreed that your people may have all the 
cattle they can capture, but the English Government 



130 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

insists that on no account are your men to injure the Basuto 
women and children." 

Ubandini thought deeply for a moment, and then re- 
marked, " Mafu (the McLeod's native name), do you like 
rats ? " 

McL. " No." 

U. " In fact you kill them whenever you can." 

McL. " Yes." 

U. " But surely you spare the females and little rats ? " 

No answer. 

The black man will do much from fear or for utilitarian 
motives, but to him as a rule charity simply does not exist. 
One day in 1874 an old man came to Sepopo, the paramount 
chief of the Barotsi, and claimed his help. Sepopo, who 
was drinking beer with a white trader, turned to some of 
his men and said : " He's a very old man ; can he do any 
work ? " Being answered in the negative he ordered his 
servants to take the old man down to the river and hold 
his head under water. On being informed that the un- 
fortunate victim was dead he coolly said : " Then give him 
to the crocodiles," and then went on chatting quietly and 
drinking beer with his white friend. The whole affair was 
a matter of no importance. 

Of the intentions and views of the Zulus and the Boers 
at this time Selous writes to his mother, January 25th, 
1880, and it is interesting to notice that at this time his 
attitude towards the Boers was not so sympathetic as it 
eventually became on more intimate knowledge. 

" Last year when I went in hunting I thought to have 
done well, as I obtained leave to hunt in a country where a 
few years ago elephants were very plentiful. But, alas, 
during the last two years Moremi's hunters from Lake 
Ngami have overrun the whole district and effectively 
driven away the elephants, so that I have again made an 
unsuccessful hunt. I shall now give up hunting elephants, 
as it is impossible to make it pa}^ However, I must make 
one more journey into the interior, which I intend to be my 
last. If I keep my health it will be a long one, for I intend 
to cross the Zambesi again and endeavour to penetrate 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 131 

through the Mashukulumbwe country to Lake Bangwolo, 
for which purpose I have bought twelve donkeys that will 
carry my traps and make me independent to a great extent 
of native carriers. 

" During the last four years, though I have led a life of 
great hardship and privation, yet I have lost much money 
and almost ruined a good constitution ; to throw away a 
little more money and health after what has already gone, 
will not much matter, and the former I may not lose at all, 
for I may shoot elephants, indeed, most likely I shall. I 
intend publishing a book, and think that a journey into a 
country where no one has ever been before would greatly 
enhance its value. My plans are liable to modification 
owing to fever, tsetse flies, and various minor circum- 
stances. 

" The Zulu war is over. You think it was unjustifiable, 
but it was not so, for so long as the military power of the 
Zulus remained unbroken there could be no peace in South 
Africa and the white inhabitants of Natal and the Transvaal 
would have had an assegai constantly dangling over their 
heads. Sir Bartle Frere knew this, and no doubt manoeuvred 
so as to bring on a war, a war which he knew to be inevitable 
sooner or later. Of course but little glory has been gained, 
and one cannot but admire and pity the Zulus, who made a 
brave but unavailing resistance to our men armed with far 
superior weapons. I think they are far better off than 
before, and are not burdened with the cruel despotism of 
Cetawayo. It seems that after all there will be a disturbance 
with the Transvaal Boers. I hope not, but of course, if 
they force it upon themselves, their blood will be upon their 
own heads. I do not admire them ; mentally they are, I 
should think, the most ignorant and stupid of all white 
races, and they certainly have not one tenth part of the 
courage of the Zulus. Physically they are immensely big 
as a rule and capital shots, but there can only be one end 
for them to an open rupture with the British authorities, 
death and confiscation of property which will leave another 
legacy of hatred between Dutch and English inhabitants of 
this country for many years to come." 



132 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Early in 1880 Selous, having completely recovered from 
his attack of fever and settled up French's affairs, turned 
his attention to the preparations for his big expedition across 
the Zambesi. Difficulties, however, arose which foiled all 
his plans. In the first place the Matabele were supposed 
(officially) to be in a disturbed state, so it was necessary for 
Selous to go to Pretoria to obtain from Sir Owen Lanyon, 
the administrator of the Transvaal, permission to carry a 
good supply of ammunition. This, however. Sir Owen 
blankly refused. The secretary to the administrator was 
Mr. Godfrey Lagden (afterwards Sir Godfrey Lagden, 
Governor of Basutoland for many years, and a close friend 
of Selous). Sir Godfrey thus writes to me : — 

" Selous approached me to get the Governor's permit to 
proceed with firearms through a forbidden or restricted 
route to Matabeleland, then closed owing to political 
reasons. This route was dangerous to travel in consequence 
of the threatening attitude of Lobengula. I was able to 
help in a measure — who could refuse to help so bold and 
charming a personality ? — but not to the full measure he 
wanted. He went away saying : ' I want you some day to 
come and trek with me, and enjoy as you do the beautiful 
big game as well as the small without killing it. Meanwhile 
I must away, and as a permit cannot take me over the 
Crocodile river, I must swim it in spite of crocodiles and 
Matabele.' " 

The refusal of a permit to carry sufficient ammunition 
undoubtedly caused him to abandon the long journey — 
that is to say, for the time being — and in his letters home 
at this period he is once again depressed at the financial 
outlook and the difficulty of making a living. " I hope to 
be in England," he says (March, 1880), " by the end of the 
year. I shall then go in for writing a book, for which I may 
get a little money. I know that people have got good sums 
for writing bad books on Africa, full of lies, though I do not 
know if a true book will sell well. My book at any rate will 
command a large sale out here, as I am so well known, and 
have a reputation for speaking nothing but the truth." 

Before going home he decided to go to Matabeleland and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 133 

join his friends Collison, J. S. Jameson, and Dr. Crook in a 
hunting trip to the Mashuna country. 

Here it is necessary to say a few words concerning 
Selous' friend, J. S. Jameson, for in later days he took a 
prominent part in the page of African history. 

James SHgo Jameson was born at Alloa, N.B., on 17th of 
August, 1856. His father, Andrew Jameson, was the son of 
John Jameson, who founded the business in Dublin. From 
his early youth he evinced a great taste for sport and 
natural history, with a desire to travel and doing something 
big. After schooldays at Dreghorn and the International 
College, Isleworth, he began to read for the army, but soon 
abandoned his intention, and his father being a rich man he 
went on his travels in 1877 to Ceylon, Calcutta, Singapore, 
and Borneo, where he made a good collection of birds and 
insects. In 1878 he went to South Africa and hunted on the 
borders of the Kalahari in Montsioa's veldt until 1879, when 
he returned to Potchefstroom and outfitted for an extensive 
trip to Matabeleland and the Zambesi in 1880. Whilst at 
Potchefstroom he carried despatches to Sir Garnet Wolseley 
at Pretoria and then returned, completed his preparations, 
and trekked north across the Limpopo to Matabeleland, 
where later on he met Selous. 

In the spring of 1881 Jameson returned to England with 
a fine collection of heads, birds and insects, and the following 
year, in company with his brother, J. A. Jameson, he went 
to the upper waters of the Mussel Shell river in Montana and 
hunted successfully bear, sheep, wapiti, mule deer and 
antelope. In 1883 he again hunted in the Rockies with his 
brother on the North Foot of Stinking Water, then a great 
game country, and killed thirty-six mountain sheep, 
buffalo, bears and wapiti. 

In 1884 he travelled in Spain and Algeria, and in 1885 
married Ethel, daughter of Major-General Sir Henry 
Durand. 

It was in January, 1887, that the Enghsh public were 
interested in the proposed expedition for the relief of Emin 
Pasha — Gordon's friend — under the command of H. M. 
Stanley. The whole idea was one that appealed to Jameson's 



134 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

chivalrous nature, and as it seemed to offer good oppor- 
tunities for collecting specimens of big game, birds and 
insects in a part of Africa that was practically^ unknown, he 
offered a thousand pounds to be allowed to accompany the 
expedition as an officer acting under Stanley's orders. This 
offer was at once accepted. 

" Why all the ambitions of my lifetime should have been 
concentrated at this time, with a seemingly prosperous issue, 
I know not ; but I assure you that I did not accept the 
position without weighing well all there was for and against 
it. Ever since childhood I have dreamt of doing some good 
in this world, and making a name which was more than an 
idle one. My life has been a more or less selfish one, and 
now springs up this opportunity of wiping off a little of the 
long score standing against me. Do not blame me too 
much."^ 

After a wearisome journey up the Congo, Stanley decided 
to make a base camp at Yambuya on the Aruwimi, and to 
leave there all the sick and useless Soudanese and Zanzibari 
soldiers and porters, extra stores, etc., and to push on him- 
self to the Ituri forest and Lake Albert with the main 
expedition. Two officers had to be left in charge at Yam- 
buya, and to his great disgust Jameson found that he was 
one of those selected for this uncongenial task. Almost 
from the first the whole outfit suffered from semi-starvation. 
The site of the camp was badly chosen, the natives were 
more or less hostile, and Jameson and his gallant friend. 
Major Barttelot, were often at their wits' ends to feed their 
men and keep down the continuous death-rate. 

Stanley, it seems, had promised to return in November, 
and that if he did not return he had arranged with Tippu-Tib, 
the Arab chieftain, ivory and slave-trader, and actual 
master of the Upper Congo, to permit a thousand porters 
to bring on the rearguard and join him at Lake Albert. 

At last things became so desperate that Jameson himself 
went up the Congo, a twent^^-four days' journey, to see 
Tippu-Tib to try and induce him to supply the men with 

' Letter to Lady Duraiul, Jan. 22nd, 1S87, from " Story of the Rear 
Column," p. 31. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 135 

which to cross Africa — even offering a bond for five thousand 
pounds on his and Major Barttelot's private account if 
Stanley's word was not considered sufficient. Tippu-Tib 
seems to have behaved well, and accompanied Jameson 
back to Stanley Falls, from which he and Barttelot 
presently started with some four hundred unruly Manyema 
savages. 

We need not follow poor Jameson's troubles in the 
ensuing months of June to August, 1888, when, the move 
failing, owing to ceaseless thefts, desertions and small-pox, 
Jameson at last reached Unaria and Barttelot returned to 
Stanley Falls. Barttelot was then murdered, and Jameson 
returned to Stanley Falls, where he found it impossible to 
re-organize the expedition without monetary help, which 
at the time he could not obtain. There being no prospect of 
doing anything in the way of crossing Africa, and no word 
or orders having been received from Stanley, Jameson then 
went down the river to Bangala in order to obtain some 
reply from the Emin Relief Committee. Tippu-Tib indeed 
offered himself to go with Jameson, but demanded £20,000 
— a sum which at the time it was not possible for Jameson 
to guarantee. On this journey Jameson got wet and caught 
a chill which soon developed into acute fever. He was a 
dying man when his good friend Herbert Ward lifted him 
from the canoe at Bangala, and he only lived for a few days. 

Jameson was to all who knew him well of a generous and 
gentle nature, full of thought for others and a man of high 
courage. 

At the end of May, 1880, Selous reached Bulawayo and 
met his friends, and left a few days later for the hunting 
veldt, where they had fine sport with all sorts of game 
except elephants. On July 24th Jameson and Selous left 
their waggons on the Umfule river and went in on foot 
with thirteen natives into the " fly " country to the north. 
This was a rough, hilly country where rhinoceros were 
numerous in the hills and hippopotami in the river. The 
country was quite unknown, but the object of the hunters 
was to strike east to the Hanyane and follow it down 
to the Portuguese town of Zumbo on the Zambesi. At Lo 



136 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Magondi's kraal they decided to abandon the Hanyane 
route and to follow the Umfule to its junction with the 
Umniati. 

On July 31st they reached a pool and killed several 
hippopotami, and the hunters and natives were soon 
revelUng in meat and fat. The next day Selous killed a very 
fine buffalo bull. In a few days they reached the Umniati 
and entered the first Banyai village. The party got game 
almost every day, and on August loth Selous killed another 
fine buffalo bull. On the Umniati the natives engaged in 
the practice of enclosing a space of the river over 200 yards 
broad and 400 yards in length to confine a herd of hippo- 
potami so as to starve them to death. In one of these the 
travellers saw ten unfortunate animals which had been 
enclosed for about three weeks. Occasionally one was 
speared by the natives when it became exhausted. 

On August 17th Jameson and Selous turned homewards 
towards their waggons, and whilst travelling through the 
bush suddenly came upon two fine bull elephants. Jameson 
was in great excitement, as they were the first he had ever 
seen. The elephants passed broadside and both hunters 
fired, but the beasts made off. After several more shots — 
Jameson having got hold of his big rifle — both hunters 
killed their quarry, then following the course of the 
Umzweswe for some distance, where Jameson got his first 
lion, and by striking east to the Umfule river, they got back 
to their waggons on August 30th. 

In a letter to his mother (November 2nd, 1880) Selous 
says : " I will send you an account of a lion that came to 
our camp whilst we were away and did a bit of mischief, 
causing the death amongst other things of Mr. Jameson's 
servant, a white man named Ruthven." No details of this 
unfortunate incident are, however, available. 

Jameson and Selous continued hunting until November, 
and then trekked out to Bulawayo. In December Selous 
bade farewell to Lobengula and reached Bamangwato at 
the end of the month. Early in 1881 war broke out in the 
Transvaal, so Jameson and Selous travelled along the 
borders of the Kalahari desert to Griqualand and reached 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 137 

the Diamond Fields. Here Selous disposed of his waggon, 
oxen and horses, travelled to Port Elizabeth, and took ship 
for England. As soon as he landed he heard that " the 
wretched war with the Transvaal — a war that will leave a 
legacy of hatred for generations to come to be equally 
divided between the Dutch and English colonists in South 
Africa — had been concluded by a most humiliating peace, 
and a more disgraceful page added to the history of England 
than any that have yet been written in its annals." 

On April 17th, 1877, Sir T. Shepstone, on behalf of H.M. 
Government, annexed the Transvaal. It is true that for a 
long time the management of the affairs of the Boer Re- 
public had been going from bad to worse. Its government 
had no longer powers to enforce laws or to collect taxes. 
Nevertheless, many thought our action was unjust as long 
as their affairs did not affect us. On one point, however, 
we had a right, for the conduct of the Boers to the native 
tribes had been abominable. One of the causes alleged for 
our interference was the desultory war carried on with great 
brutality by the Boers against Sekukuni, chief of the Bapedi. 
This war was brought on by the encroachment of the Boers 
on the Bapedi, just as the Zulu war was brought on by 
similar causes. The object of the Boers in their attacks on 
native races was firstly the acquisition of territory, and 
secondly the capture of children to be brought up as slaves. 

When the annexation was announced, the Zulus rejoiced 
greatly, but their joy was soon dashed when they found 
that, far from removing the bitter trouble of the boundary 
question, the EngUsh had turned against them in this 
matter. They were sore at our having espoused the cause 
of their enemies, the Boers, whom they had refrained from 
attacking for many years, when they could have done so 
with impunity, without coming into collision with the 
English. Even at this time they still believed in us ; but 
considered that Sir T. Shepstone in undertaking the govern- 
ment of the Boers, had become a Boer himself. 

At first the Boers took the annexation quietly, and sent 
two commissions to London, in 1877 and 1878, with a 
memorial signed by thousands of Boers stating their rights 



138 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

in the matter, in order to avoid war, but obtained no 
satisfaction from the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
A considerable feeling of unrest therefore remained after 
their return, and the Boers went into laager near Pretoria, 
where Sir Bartle Frere met them on September loth, 1879, 
The Boers then complained bitterly of the annexation and 
of the manner in which it had been carried out. The answer 
given on the 29th of September by Sir Garnet Wolseley was 
that we intended to keep the Transvaal, 
i f'^On the 12th of December there was a meeting of over six 
thousand Boers at Wonderfontein, and many resolutions 
were passed which in the main proclaimed their continued 
independence. At the end of 1879, however, the Home 
Government established a sort of Executive Council for the 
Transvaal which consisted of both Boers and Englishmen. 
In March, 1880, the lirst legislative assembly under Her 
Majesty's rule was opened at Pretoria by Colonel Owen 
Lanyon, and for a short time after this the Home Govern- 
ment was assured that the agitation amongst the Boers was 
dying out, whereas in reality it was only the calm before 
the storm. 

On November nth some disaffected Boers forcibly 
stopped an execution sale for non-payment of taxes. 
Soon after this the Boers gathered and refused to pay taxes. 
This led to collisions, and Sir Owen Lanyon ordered up 
troops to Potchefstroom. On December 13th, 1880, the 
first shot was fired and England began to reap the fruit of 
her disastrous policy. The result of the war of 1881 and the 
subsequent peace made by Gladstone immediately after the 
disaster of Majuba are too well known to need recapitulation. 

As soon as Selous arrived in England he began preparing 
for the Press an account of his travels which was published 
by Richard Bentley & Son in the same year under the title 
of " A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa."^ As was expected 

1 Mrs. Jones (Miss A. S. Selous), who did the illustrations for his 
first book, writes to me : " I fear I must own to these illustrations, but at 
least they were a proof of what my brother was to me — my hero always — 
I never could have gone through such an ordeal otherwise, for I knew 
nothing about animals. Still I do not regret them, although the sight of 
them on the screen was always acutely painful to me ! You were his 
greatest friend, so you will understand." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 139 

by his friends, but not himself, it achieved an immediate 
success and stamped the author at once not only as a great 
hunter, naturalist and explorer, but as one who could 
narrate his experiences in an entertaining fashion. Since 
Baldwin's " African Hunting and Adventure," published 
in 1863, there had been no first-class book on South African 
sport, so Selous' book was welcomed by all men who love 
the rifle and the wilderness. If he made a mistake it was in 
publishing the lists of game shot by himself between January, 
1877, and December, 1880. They amount to such a formid- 
able total that, both at the time and subsequently reviewers 
attacked him for what they call " this wholesale senseless 
slaughter." Selous was wont to reply to this charge by 
saying that the greater part of the meat killed was consumed 
by his own followers and hungry natives who would do 
nothing for him unless he killed some animal for food. ^ This 
is very true, but it must be admitted there was enormous 
waste on some days when four or five giraffes or elephants 
were killed. Selous, however, was no different from other 
hunters of all time, and thought that in the case of very 
abundant species they would last for ever, or in the case of 
others — such as the great game — if he did not shoot them 
somebody else would. Nevertheless, he was far more 
considerate than the majority of the early hunters, and 
never shot an animal except for a definite purpose. Between 
the years 1860-1870 the destruction of game in South Africa 
was very great, but the real disappearance of the large fauna 
probably dated from the introduction of the modern breech- 
loading rifle, roughly about 1875, and the commencement of 
the sale of hides for commercial purposes. It will give the 
reader a better idea of what this wholesale destruction 
meant when I state that one dealer in Kroonstad (Orange 
River Colony) told me by reference to his books that 
between the years 1878-1880 he exported nearly two 

^ Writing in 1892 Selous says : "As 1 have lately been accused of 
slaughtering game for sport, I will take this opportunity of saying that 
during this journey (Autumn, 1892), though I walked for days amongst 
innumerable herds of wild animals, I only fired away twelve cartridges 
from the day I left Salisbury until the date of my return there, and that, 
as is my usual practice, I never fired a shot except for the purpose of supply- 
ing myself and my party with meat." 



140 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

million skins of springbuck, blesbok and black wildebeest. 
He, it is true, was the principal dealer in hides for that part 
of the Vaal river district, but there were many others who 
also exported very large numbers. It has been abundantly 
proved that game of all kinds must disappear at the advent 
of railways and modern weapons. In a new country every 
man carries a rifle and uses it, whilst history teaches us that 
nothing has ever been done to save the game until it is on 
the verge of extinction. East Africa, alone of all countries, 
made adequate Game Laws in time, but how long the game 
will last there, near railways, is a doubtful point, for the 
settlers have now taken matters into their own hands and 
are destroying the game wholesale on the pretext of wanting 
the grass for the cattle. This is done indiscriminately by all 
settlers whether they have cattle or not. Considering that 
Big Game shooting parties furnish a good part of the 
revenue (over £10,000 annually in shooting licences) of 
British East Africa, and that the country, except for coffee, 
black wattle and hemp, all of which grow where there is 
little or no big game, is mostly unsuitable for ranching, the 
state of things is deplorable. 

There are many who sneer at Big Game shooting, and are 
opposed to the slaughter of animals, but if we look upon this 
sport in a wider sense, in its magnificent opportunities for 
training the body and developing the best qualities in men 
of the right stamp, and in the matter of shooting, endurance 
and the organization of material, we will find that the 
balance is on the right side. There is, in fact, no outdoor 
exercise to compare with it, whilst the man who delights in 
slaughtering large numbers of animals purely for the lust of 
taking life is extremely rare . 



CHAPTER VI 

1881-1885 

WHEN Selous returned to South Africa in Novem- 
ber, 1881, it was with the fixed intention of 
abandoning his wandering life. The chase of 
the elephant which, above all wild animals, furnished some 
pecuniary return, had now become so precarious, owing to 
the scarcity of the animals, that even men like Selous 
could not make a living at it, so when his friend Mandy, 
who was doing well in Cape Colony as an ostrich-farmer, 
suggested to him that he should enter the same profession, 
he decided that the advice was good. Accordingly when 
he returned to the Cape he at once visited Mandy, whom 
he found far from flourishing. His employer had died and 
ostrich-business was at a low ebb commercially, so Selous, 
who had several orders for specimens of the larger game 
from dealers and museums, once more turned his thoughts 
towards the north, and was soon again on his way to the 
happy hunting grounds. At Kimberley he bought a fine 
grey horse named " Diamond " (which, after proving his 
excellence, fell a victim to the usual horse-sickness), and 
then proceeded to Klerksdorp in the Transvaal, where he 
hoped to take over his friend Collison's Matabele boys. 
These he found ready to go with him, as well as Morris, the 
waggon-driver, and an excellent Griqua lad named Laer, 
who was later of much assistance in skinning and preparing 
specimens. From an old Matabele pioneer named Leask 
he bought a waggon and a good span of oxen, and also laid 
in a good stock of provisions. Just as he was starting, a 
missionary named Arnot begged for a passage to Bamang- 
wato, which was at once granted. Passing through the 
Manica district of the Transvaal, Selous met one of the old 

141 



142 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Boer Voortrekhers, by name Friedrich de Lange, who 
showed him a curious " snake-stone " which was supposed 
to have the power to cure snake-bite. De Lange vakied this 
stone highly, and stated that its efficacy was invariable, 
and that it had already cured several people and horses 
that had been bitten by snakes. Selous himself was able 
to confirm de Lange' s belief in the talisman, for he had met 
the daughter of one Antony Forman, who as a child had 
been severely bitten by a cobra, and whose life was saved 
by applying the stone, which was applied twice before it 
drew out the poison. Selous met the girl — then sixteen 
years of age — in 1877 and she showed him the old scar. 
Apparently the rough side of the stone adhered to the 
wound until a certain amount of poison had been absorbed 
and then it fell off. Several applications were necessary. 
It is probable that this remarkable stone had been brought 
from India. 

Passing along the Crocodile river, where a drought set 
in and drove the game to the neighbourhood of the river, 
Selous managed to kill a few good specimens of hartebeest 
and wildebeest which he preserved. Diamond proved a 
splendid shooting horse, but another mount. Nelson, 
which was at first intractable, eventually became a valuable 
animal, as he successfully survived the prevalent sickness. 
This horse, though somewhat slow, did Selous yeoman 
service for several years, and he eventually sold it to 
Lewanika, chief of the Barotsi, in 1888. 

At this time Selous hunted industriously to make a good 
collection of butterflies, and after many years he did make 
a very complete collection, which he presented to the Cape 
Town Museum. The curator of this museum was the late 
Mr, Trimen — a man for whom Selous had a great respect — 
who was ever delighted to receive any novelties, and many 
were the new species discovered by these two active ento- 
mologists. Selous, in fact, had all his life collected butter- 
flies, and did so almost to the day of his death in German 
East Africa, for it was nothing to him to chase agile insects 
in the heat of the day, when other men only thought of rest 
and refreshment. The capture of some new species was to 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 143 

him always a great event, and though others, less interested 
than himself, wondered at his taking so much trouble 
about a wretched butterfly, he had all the absorbing pleasure 
of finding some new thing, the ambition of all true natur- 
alists. 

One day, whilst butterfly hunting, he found an ox bogged 
in the mud of the river. The poor beast had been badly 
bitten by crocodiles, which are perhaps more numerous in 
the Limpopo than in any river in South Africa, except 
perhaps the Botletlie. Numerous goats and calves belong- 
ing to natives were annually destroyed there, whilst in 
1876 a Boer hunter named Berns Niemand met his death 
from these reptiles whilst crossing the river. 

At the Notwani river, on March 5th, Selous decided to 
visit Khama and ask his permission to travel along the 
Limpopo and up the Mahalapsi river to Matabeleland. He 
rode by night, and " off-saddled " to give his horse a rest 
and feed for half an hour. 

" I had been lying thus upon the ground for perhaps a 
couple of minutes, listening to the slight noise made by my 
horse as he cropped the short dry herbage. Suddenly the 
sound ceased. For a few seconds I lay dreamily wondering 
why it did not recommence ; but as there was still silence, 
I rolled quickly over on my stomach, and, looking under 
the bush to ascertain why my horse had stopped feeding, I 
saw that he was standing in an attitude of fixed attention, 
with ears pricked forward, intently gazing towards the road. 
I instantly turned and looked in the same direction, and 
as instantly saw on what the horse's eyes were fixed. 
There, not thirty yards away, and right in the open, a 
lioness, looking large and white in the brilliant moonlight- 
was coming up at a quick and stealthy pace, and in a half- 
crouching attitude. In an instant I was on my feet, and 
the lioness, probably observing me for the first time, at 
once stopped and crouched perfectly flat on the ground. 
The saddle and rifle lay out in the moonhght right between 
me and the lioness, though nearer to me than to her. It 
was not a time to hesitate. I knew she must be pretty keen 
set, or she would have retreated upon seeing me ; and I 



144 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

felt that if I remained where I was, she would resume her 
journey towards my horse, which might end in my having 
to carry the saddle back to the Notwani. Obviously the 
only thing to be done was to get hold of my rifle ; so I 
walked quickly forward into the moonlight towards where 
it lay against the saddle. I must confess that I did not like 
advancing towards the lioness, for I knew very well of what 
hungry lions are capable ; and there is nothing like experi- 
ence to damp the foolhardy courage of ignorance. How- 
ever, whilst I took those dozen steps she never stirred ; but 
just as I stooped to grasp my rifle she sprang up with a low 
purring growl, and made off towards some thorn-bushes 
to her right. I fired at her as she ran, and, though I cer- 
tainly ought to have hit her, I must have missed, as she 
neither growled nor changed her pace. But I was fairly 
well pleased to have driven her off, and lost no time in 
loosening my horse's hobbles and saddling him again." 

After this adventure and visiting Khama, who as usual 
acceded to his request, he passed on north to Matabeleland, 
and in June formed a hunting camp on the tributary of the 
river Bili in the well-watered valleys and verdant forests of 
Northern Mashunaland. 

On June 2oth he set a gin for hyenas which had been 
troublesome. Soon after midnight his dogs began barking 
and retreated into camp, which they would not have done 
before a hyena. Then some heavy animals came galloping 
past and Blucher, a favourite dog, was missed. Since the 
animal had uttered no sound Selous concluded he had been 
seized by the head and carried off by a lion. For a time all 
was quiet, and then the boys began shouting and said that 
a lion had come through the thorn-fence and taken the 
skin of a sable antelope that had been drying on a frame. 
This proved to be the case, and this very bold lion or others 
then returned a second time and carried off another wet 
skin. 

Yet a third time the lion entered the camp and attacked 
the skins, one of which he commenced drawing within 
thirty yards of the camp. All this time Selous had never 
been able to get a clear shot, but as soon as dawn came he 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 145 

saddled his horse and soon saw a lion and lioness lying on 
an open bank close to the stream, but they moved off in the 
uncertain light. For that day the lions won. 

That night an enclosure was built, baited, and a gin 
placed at each entrance, but later only a hyena met its 
death. At sundown poor Bluchor, terribly mangled, 
crawled into camp, but though every attention was given 
him, he died some weeks later. The next day, however, 
better luck prevailed. Some Kafirs found a lion, and Selous 
getting a close shot from the back of his horse killed it with 
a bullet in the head. On the way back to camp another 
lion was put up and bolted through the forest. 

This lion he wounded badly and lost for a time, but 
on further search it was found and charged the hunter 
savagely. The lion then stopped. 

" The position was now this : the lion was standing 
with open mouth, from which blood was flowing, growling 
savagely, and looking like nothing but a wounded and 
furious lion, whilst right in front of him, and within thirty 
yards, stood Laer's refractory pony, backing towards the 
lion, and pulling with him Laer, who, of course, was looking 
full into his open jaws, which he did not seem to admire. 
I think I shall never forget the momentary glimpse I had 
of his face. He was at that time only a lad of about fiftee 
or sixteen years of age, and there is no wonder that he was 
frightened — but frightened he most certainly was : his hat 
had fallen off, his mouth was wide open, and his eyes staring, 
and he was puUing desperately against the horse, which 
was steadily dragging him nearer to the lion. I was a 
little to the right of Laer and a little further from the lion, 
but not much, and he looked alternately at the two of us. 
I am sure it was simply want of strength that prevented 
him from coming on and mauling either Laer or the pony, 
for before I could raise my rifle he sank down on the ground, 
but still kept his head up, and, with his mouth wide open, 
never ceased growling or roaring (I do not know which is 
tlie better word). Of course I fired as quickly as I could, 
the circumstances not admitting of any delay. I aimed 
right for his open mouth, and at the shot his head fell so 



146 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

suddenly, and in such a way, tliat I knew the bullet had 
reached his brain." ^ 

During the next six weeks Sclous shot and preserved 
many tine specimens of the larger African antelopes for the 
British Museum, Cape Museum, and London dealers. At 
this time he met his old friend Dorchill, who was also on a 
shooting trip. He had with him his young wife, ^^■ho was 
probably the iirst English lady to travel in the interior of 
IMashunaland. On the way to visit him at his camp Selous 
killed a leopard which was feeding at mid-day on the carcase 
of a black rhinoceros killed by Dorehill — a very unusual 
circumstance. 

At this time Selous determined to visit Tetc on the 
Zambesi, going there via the Hanyane river, and to cross 
the intervening country which was then quite unknown. 
After lea\'ing his waggons on August 6th, he crossed the 
Manyami, accompanied by Laer, some natives, and one pack 
donkej', and passed numerous ]\Iashuna villages on the 
hills, and so across to Umkwasi to the remarkable hills of 
Chikasi, where rocks several hundred feet high rise from the 
level plains. The country here was beautiful and the climate 
that of an EngHsh June, though colder at night. Hero 
Selous lost his only donkey, killed by a hyena. 

After crossing the IMutiki and the Dandi rivers, where no 
game was seen, and reaching Garanga, where guides were 
obtained, all the party now descended to the Zambesi valley. 
At the Kadzi river there was a considerable amount of game 
and swarms of tsetse flies, and so, following the course of the 
Umsengaisi, Selous reached the Zambesi at Chabonag on 
August 17th. 

Here he decided to make for Zumbo. 

After reaching Zumbo, formerly a centre of trade in gold 
dust and now a trade base for ivory, which mostly came 
from the Loangwa valley to the north, Selous, after mapping 
various new features in this region, struck south again. He 
had difficulty with his guides and, as always happens in the 
intense heat of the Zambesi walley, was again stnick down 
with fever. He struggled on, however, on foot until Sep- 

1 " Travel and Advcnturo in S.E. Africa," pp. 37-40. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 147 

tember loth, when Laer turned up with one of his horses, 
and on September 14th reached his camp, where in the fine 
air he soon mastered the fever. Early in October he reached 
the Matabele country and travelled to Klerksdorp, where 
he despatched his collections to Cape Town and England. 

After laying in a fresh stock of provisions and trading 
goods he again set out for the interior, and in May, 1883, 
made his permanent camp on the banks of the Manyami 
river in Mashunaland. After unsuccessfull}^ searching for 
elephants to the north and west, he crossed the Manyami 
to the Mazoe river, and from thence proceeded to the 
eastern bank of the Sabi river, close to the Portuguese 
frontier, where he hoped to obtain specimens of the now 
rare white rhinoceros and Liechtenstein's hartebeest. So 
far the last named was only known from specimens taken 
at and north of the Zambesi river, so that it was possible 
that the Sabi hartebeest might be slightly different.^ 

On the nth of July Selous made a start for the south-cast, 
and on the way knocked down a good specimen of the 
striped eland which, however, he was destined to lose, as 
ho had lost his knife and had not another cartridge to kill it 
with. The next day he shot a splendid wart-hog, which cut 
his dog Punch rather badly, and which for many years was 
the best specimen in his museum. Next day he emerged 
on to the high open grassy downs between the Manyami and 
the Mazoe rivers. The climate of this delightful region, 
which has an elevation from 4500 to 6000 feet, is the best in 
Mashunaland and has an equable temperature throughout 
the year except in the months of June and July, which are 
rather cold. Running streams intersect the plateau in all 
directions and small patches of forest afford wood and 
shelter to passing travellers. Fifty years before this beau- 
tiful country was heavily populated by peaceful Mashunas, 
but about 1840 the bloodthirsty Matabele overran the 
district and slaughtered everyone except a few which were 
kept for slaves. 

In 1883 it was a great country for eland, roan antelope, 

' Selous, however, did not kill any on this trip. I shot one near the 
Sabi in 1893 which proved to be identical with the northern race. 



148 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

and ostriches, several fine specimens of which fell to Selous' 
rifle. One of these, a female roan with horns 2 ft. 7 in. 
over the curve, still remains the record for females of this 
species. Near the river Chingi-Ka he killed a fine bull 
eland, which he left with some Mashunas who, however, 
skinned and cut it up during the night. This threw Selous 
into a rage, and he seized their bows and arrows and assegais 
and threw them on the fire, and then to their astonishment 
and annoyance made a bonfire of the rest of the carcase. 

On July 30th he reached the river Impali, a tributary of 
the Sabi. Here was a Mashuna town where all the men 
carried bows and arrows and the women were tattooed on 
the forehead, cheeks, breasts and stomach. The next day 
Selous found tracks of the antelope he had come to hunt, 
but on this and following days he had no luck in finding 
them, though some days afterwards he killed a bull rhino- 
ceros. He then returned to his camp on the IManyami, and 
continued to hunt there till November, and then started 
south-west on his return home. The day after leaving the 
Manyami, whilst crossing a tributary of the River Sarua, 
the wheel of one of his waggons collapsed, and knowing that 
a Boer and an Englishman were close at hand, Selous deter- 
mined to go to their camp, borrow a wheel and bring his 
waggon on, and make the new wheel in a place where he 
would have the pleasure of talking to some white men. 
That day Selous rode across country to the camp of Grant 
and Karl Weyand, and when Laer turned up they received 
the news that the waggon driver had met five lions on the 
road. Selous then felt sorry he had not gone by this route, 
for Laer described the big lion of the party as the most mag- 
nificent he had ever seen. Next day Selous rode back to 
his camp, and on the way he had an exciting adventure 
with a leopard which he wounded as it ran into the bush. 
The now angry beast hid in the cover but disclosed its 
whereabouts when the hunter came close. " However, I 
had seen whereabouts he was lying, and so determined to 
fire a shot or two to make him show himself ; but before 
I could do so he again raised his head with another snarl, 
and immediately after came straight out at me, and at such 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 149 

a pace that before I could turn my horse and get him 
started the leopard was right under his tail. He chased me 
for some sixty or seventy yards before he stopped, coming 
right into the open and keeping close up the whole time. I 
pulled in as quickly as I could, and before the plucky little 
beast regained the bush gave him a second shot which 
quickly proved fatal. When charging and chasing me this 
leopard growled and grunted or roared exactly like a lion 
under similar circumstances, and made just as much noise." 

The next day Laer turned up with the wheel, across 
which lay the fresh skin of a lion he had killed. It appeared 
that the previous evening when the waggon-driver and a 
native boy named April were sitting by the fire a lion 
rushed into the camp and attacked one of the oxen. April 
fired at it and missed, but Laer, though only a boy, put in 
another cartridge and took a shot which was fatal. 

The following day some men whom Selous had sent into 
the " fly " to look for elephants returned and reported " a 
big lion close by." Immediately Selous was out and after 
him with his dogs, which were led. He had not, however, 
gone far when he saw the lion lying flat on the ground at 
right angles to where he was riding. As his horse would not 
stand, he dismounted. 

" All this time the lion had never moved, nor did he now, 
but lay watching me intently with his yellow eyes. Nothing 
stirred but his tail, the end of which he twitched slowly, so 
that the black bunch of hair at its extremity appeared first 
on one side of him, then on the other. As I raised my rifle 
to my shoulder I found that the fallen tree-trunk inter- 
fered considerably with the fine view I had had of him from 
my horse's back, as it hid almost all his nose below the eyes. 
In the position in which he was now holding his head I 
ought to have hit him about half-way between the nostrils 
and the eyes, which was impossible ; anywhere above the 
eyes would have been too high, as the bullet would have 
glanced from his skull, so that it required a very exact shot 
to kill him on the spot. However, there was no time to wait, 
and, trjdng. to aim so that the bullet should just clear the 
fallen log and catch him between the eyes, I fired. With 



150 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

a loud roar he answered the shot, and I instantly became 
aware that he was coming straight at me with open mouth 
and llaming eyes, growling savagely. I knew it was hopeless 
to try to get another cartridge into my single-barrelled rifle, 
and utterly useless to try to mount, more especially as my 
horse, startled by the loud hoarse grunts and sudden and 
disagreeable appearance of the charging lion, backed so 
vigorously that the bridle (to a running ring on which a 
strong thong was attached, the other end being fastened to 
my belt) came over his head. I had a strong feeling that I 
was about to have an opportunity of testing the accuracy 
of Dr. Livingstone's incredible statement that, for certain 
reasons (explained by the Doctor), a lion's bite gives no 
pain ; but there was no time to think of anything in par- 
ticular. The whole adventure was the affair of a moment. 
I just brought my rifle round in front of me, holding the 
small of the stock in my right hand and the barrel in my 
left, with a vague idea of getting it into the lion's mouth, and 
at the same time yelled as loud as I could, ' Los de honden, 
los de honden,' which being translated means, ' Let loose 
the dogs.' In an instant, as I say, the lion was close up to 
me. I had never moved my feet since flring, and whether 
it was my standing still facing him that made him alter his 
mind, or whether he heard the noise made b}^ my people, who, 
hearing my shot, immediately followed by the loud growling 
of the lion, were all shouting and making a noise to frighten 
the lion from coming their way, I cannot take upon myself 
to say ; but he came straight on to within about six yards 
of me, looking, I must say, most unpleasant, and then 
suddenly swerved off, and passing me, galloped away."^ 

The dogs then ran him to bay alongside a big anthill. 

" As soon as he saw me he paid no further heed to his 
canine foes, but stood, with his eyes fixed on the most 
dangerous of his assailants, growling hoarsely, and with 
his head held low between his shoulders — just ready to 
charge, in fact. I knew mj- horse would not stand steady, 
so jumped off, and taking a quick aim fired instantly, as it 
does not do to wait when a lion is looking at you hke this, 

^ " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," pp. 130-133. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 151 

and when he may make up his mind to come at any moment. 
Usually they jerk their tails up over their backs, holding 
them perfectly stiff and rigid, two or three times before 
charging. They sometimes charge without doing this, but 
they never do it without charging. My bullet inflicted a 
mortal wound, entering between the animal's neck and 
shoulder and travelling the whole length of his body. He 
sat down like a dog on his haunches immediately after, and 
was evidently done for, as he lolled his tongue out of his 
mouth and growled feebly when the dogs bit him in the 
hind-quarters." 1 

The pegged-out skin of his lion measured ten feet eleven 
inches, and it proved to be the third largest Selous ever 
killed. 

In mid-December Selous went out to Bulawayo and there 
found himself involved in a row with Lobengula, who un- 
justly accused him of killing hippopotami. The Matabele 
apparently had some superstition regarding these animals 
and believed that a drought would follow the killing of a 
number of these animals unless the bones were returned to 
the river. Doubtless some slaughter had taken place 
owing to the activities of a certain trader who made a 
business in sjamboks. 

When Selous met Lobengula he was at first quite friendly, 
and when the hunter told him he had not killed a single 
hippopotamus that year the king said there vv^as no case 
against him. A few days later, however, he was summoned 
to the king's presence and Selous heard there was Hkely to 
be trouble. The case lasted three days, during which time 
the white men accused had to sit outside the kraal in the 
pouring rain. 

Concluding his attack on Selous, Ma-kwaykwi, one of the 
head indunas, said : 

" ' It is you, Selous, who have finished the king's game.' 
He went on : ' But you are a witch, you must bring them 
all to hfe again. I want to see them — all, all. Let them 
all walk in at the kraal gate, the elephants, and the buffaloes, 
and the elands.' 

1 " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," pp. 133-134- 



152 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" I stood up and called out : ' All right ; but when the 
lions come in, will you, Ma-kwaykwi, remain where you are to 
count them ? ' 

" This caused a general laugh at Ma-kwaykwi's expense, 
and quite stopped his flow of eloquence." 

Finally Selous had to pay sixty pounds. This fine he 
always considered to be a robbery. 

As soon as the case finished Selous went to Klerksdorp 
and sent his collections to England. He was sore at his 
treatment by Lobengula, and so determined to avoid Mata- 
beleland and to hunt in the northern parts of Khama's 
territory this year. One day at Klerksdorp he met Walter 
Montague Kerr bent on a long expedition through 
Matabeleland and Mashunaland to the Zambesi, and the 
two hunters travelled together as far as Bulawayo. Here 
they separated, Kerr going north and eventually crossing 
the Zambesi, where the illness, privation, and hardship he 
underwent so undermined his health that his early death 
resulted. He published an interesting book on his travels ^ 
which is, however, now little known. 

At this time Selous was much depressed owing to the 
low state of his finances, for although he had been able to 
support himself entirely by trading and his rifle since 1871, 
he had made nothing and his whole assets were represented 
by horses, oxen, waggons and general outfit. His mother, 
too, frequently urged him to give up South Africa, and 
either come home or try another country, but to this he 
turned a deaf ear and only expressed his wish to worry on 
till better times came. Writing to her on April 6th, 1884, 
from Bamangwato, he says : — 

" This country is now in a terrible state financially, 
bankrupt from Cape Town to the Zambesi. Nothing that 
is not exportable has any real value, for nothing can be 
turned into money. Thanks to my specimens I have during 
the last two years, in spite of more than reasonable losses, 
even for Africa, done very well, but all that I have made is 
represented by waggons, salted horses, cattle, rifles, etc., 
for all of which I have paid large prices, but which, if I 

^ " The Far Interior." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 153 

wished to realize and leave the country, would bring me in 
scarcely enough to pay my passage to England. It is all 
very well to tell a man to leave such a country and try 
another. It would be the wisest thing to do, no doubt, but 
it is a thing that few men are capable of doing. What you 
say of Edward Colchester (friend of his youth) returning to 
Australia and beginning life again at thirty-nine is not at 
aU to the point. He would simply be returning again to his 
old life, for which he has never ceased to pine ever since he 
came home and settled down in England. I was very inter- 
ested in what you told me about Spiritualism, but are you 
sure that William Colchester really saw his child (recently 
deceased) and touched and spoke to him ? In Sergeant 
Cox's accounts of Materializations the figure seen is that of 
the medium, and I have never yet seen an authentic account 
of any other Materialization. At present I believe nothing 
(about Spiritualism), but am inclined towards Materialism, 
but at the same time time I do not believe everything, and 
am in a state of doubt. If I felt sure — quite sure — that I 
was merely material, I think I should before long take a 
good dose of laudanum and stop the working of my inward 
mechanism, for life, on the whole, is a failure — to me, at 
any rate — who, I think, am naturally of rather a sad turn 
of mind, though I can quite understand it being very 
different to sanguine hopeful people. However, as I feel 
doubtful upon the subject, I certainly shall not have recourse 
to violent measures but shall protect my vital spark as 
long as I can. I think I told you about Jameson being 
struck down by a sort of paralytic stroke and not being 
able to come out this year to hunt. 

" I am very sorry indeed, for being with Jameson, who is, 
of course, a rich man, I should have been free from the 
constant anxiety which now overhangs me like a black 
cloud as to whether I shall be able to pay my debts. It is 
so very easy to lose a hundred pounds in live stock, from 
sickness, drought, hunger, etc., and so hard, so very hard, 
to make it. Last year I paid Mr. Leask nearly ;^i6oo. This 
year I only owe a few hundreds and am at present well to 
the good, as I have nearly £2000 worth of property." 



154 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Selous left Bamangwato in April, 1884, and trekked across 
the desert north-west to the Mababe veldt. He was fortunate 
enough to find for once plenty of water, owing to thunder- 
storms, and he did not experience any great hardships as he 
did in 1873 and 1879. I^ J^i^e he established his main 
hunting camp near the north end of the Mababe flats. The 
bushmen here told him of the activities of a man-eating 
lion who had recently killed several men. Selous at once 
set out to look for him, and soon found one of the unfortunate 
victims, torn to pieces and partially eaten. But the lion 
seems to have left this district, and the hunter was unable 
to find him, since he did not commit further depredations. 

Selous did not remain long on the Mababe. In August 
he retreated to Sode Gara and Horn's Vley, where he killed 
some good specimens of giraffe, hartebeest, gemsbuck, and 
ostrich. Then he moved eastward for a while, and after- 
wards went south to Tati, which he reached in late November, 
and so on to Bulawayo, where he remained for the winter, 
sending his specimens out on a trader's waggon. 

After visiting Lobengula, who demanded a salted horse 
valued at sixty pounds for the right to hunt in Mashunaland, 
Selous set off again to the north-east. He took with him 
four horses and thus quaintly describes a new cure for a 
hopeless " bucker." 

" I almost cured him," he says, " of bucking by riding 
him with an adze handle, and stunning him by a heavy 
blow administered between the ears as soon as he com- 
menced, which he invariably did as soon as one touched 
the saddle ; but I never could make a shooting horse of 
him, and finally gave him to Lobengula, in the hope that 
he would present him to Ma-kwaykwi or some other of his 
indunas against whom I had a personal grudge." 

Selous now went to the Se-whoi-whoi river, where two 
years previously he killed the last two white rhinoceroses 
he was destined to see. These great creatures had now 
become exceedingly scarce in Africa south of the Zambesi, 
and are now quite extinct in all South Africa except in the 
neighbourhood of the Black Umvolosi in Zululand, where, 
according to latest reports (1917), there are twelve which 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 155 

are fortunately strictly preserved. In 1886 two Boers in 
Northern Mashunaland killed ten, and five were killed in 
Matabeleland in the same year. After this date they 
seemed to be extremely rare. I saw the tracks of one near 
the Sabi in 1893, and the same year Mr. Coryndon killed 
one in Northern Mashunaland. 

When he reached the high plateau of Mashunaland and 
got to the Umfule and Umniati rivers Selous found game 
plentiful, and was soon busy collecting specimens. After 
a visit to the Zweswi he passed on to the Lundaza, a tributary 
of the Umfule. Here he found a large herd of elephants. He 
was, however, badly mounted on a sulky horse, as his 
favourite Nelson had been injured, and this greatly handi- 
capped him, as well as causing him twice to have some 
hairbreadth escapes. 

On the great day on which he killed six elephants he had 
numerous adventures. First he shot at and wounded a large 
bull which he could not follow, as an old cow charged him 
viciously and gradually overhauled his sulky horse ; but 
on entering thick bush he avoided her and soon got to work 
on two fresh bulls which he killed. He then dashed after 
the broken herd and soon came face to face with an old 
cow, who chased him so hard that he had to leap off his 
horse to avoid her. Curiously enough, the elephant did not 
molest his horse, but getting the wind of the hunter, charged 
him and was eventually killed. Selous then followed the 
retreating herd, and only at first succeeded in wounding 
two large cows, one of which charged him, when he had 
again to abandon his horse, but after some trouble he killed 
them both. 

Later, on the Manyami, he found another small herd and 
killed a big bull and a cow. The bull charged him fiercely 
but swung off on receiving a frontal shot, and was then killed 
with a heart shot. Later in the year he went south to the 
Sabi and was lucky enough to kill five Liechtenstein's harte- 
beest, which he had failed to get on his previous hunt for 
them. 

In December he returned to Bulawayo. On the way, 
whilst travelling with Collison, James Dawson, and 



156 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Cornelis van Rooyen, a noted Boer hunter, an incident 
occurred which showed the power of a sable antelope in 
defending itself from dogs. Van Rooyen fired at a bull, and 
all the dogs rushed from the waggon to bring the wounded 
animal to bay. When the hunter got up and killed the 
sable it was found that the gallant antelope in defending 
itself with itsscimitar-Hke horns had killed outright four valu- 
able dogs and badly wounded four more. The strength and 
rapidity with which a sable bull uses its horns is a wonderful 
thing to see. When cornered either by a lion or dogs the 
sable lies down and induces the enemy to attack its flanks. 
Then like a flash the horns are swept sideways and the 
attacker pierced. I lost my best dog by a wounded bull in 
1893. He was killed in an instant, both horns going right 
through the whole body, between heart and lungs. In the 
same year I found in a dying condition a splendid bull 
sable, badly mauled by a lion, and incapable of rising, but 
the lion himself, an old male, was found dead about a hundred 
yards away by some Shangan natives. I saw the claws and 
teeth of this lion, but the skin was not preserved as the lion 
had been dead some days when it was found. There is 
little doubt that both the sable and the roan antelopes are 
dangerous when cornered. A Matabele warrior was killed 
by a wounded cow sable in 1892, and Sergeant Chawner of 
the Mashunaland police was in 1890 charged by a slightly 
wounded bull roan which missed the rider but struck his 
horse through the neck and so injured it that it had to be 
shot. A similar incident also happened to Mr, George 
Banks in 1893. 



CHAPTER VII 

1886-1889 

DURING the year 1886 Selous did but little hunting 
and shooting, though he twice made short visits 
to Matabeleland both before and after a journey 
home to England, where he remained for several months. 
In the following year he was employed to act as guide and 
hunter to Messrs. J. A. Jameson,^ A. C. Fountaine,^ and F. 
Cooper, 3 on a long trip to Mashunaland, in which all con- 
cerned had wonderful sport. The party killed twelve lions, 
and discovered the remarkable limestone caves of Sinoia and 
the subterranean lake whose waters are cobalt blue.* 

A main camp was established on the Upper Manyami, 
and from there hunts were organized in all directions. The 
travels of the four Englishmen occupied the greater part of 
the year. 

It was during this expedition that one day whilst chasing 
four koodoo bulls Selous charged straight into one of the 
pitfalls made by the natives for trapping game. The 
impact was so great that the horse broke his back and 
Selous himself so injured the tendons of one of his legs 
that he was unable to walk for three weeks afterwards. In 
such a life as he had, much of which was spent in rough 
country, racing game at full speed on horseback, it was 
unavoidable that the hunter should meet with numerous 
falls. He was, however, so tough and clever that in most 

^ J. A. Jameson, a brother of J. S. Jameson. 

- A. C. Fountaine, pi Narford Hall, Norfolk. 

^ Frank Cooper, of Bulwell Hall, Notts, another well-known big 
game hunter of his period who had had in previous years excellent sport 
with wapiti in Colorado, where he and his brother secured some remark- 
able heads. 

* For Selous' own account of these caves and their discovery see 
" Proc. Geographical Soc," May, 1888. 

157 



158 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

cases he escaped unhurt, but once, when chasing a black 
rhinoceros on the Manyami river in 1883, he had a bad 
fall and smashed his collar-bone, and on another occasion, 
in October, 1880, whilst chasing a bull eland, he dashed 
at full speed into a dead tree branch. Even after this he 
killed his game, but on reaching camp became half -uncon- 
scious with concussion of the brain. There was a deep 
wound on the side of his eye which destroyed the tear-duct, 
leaving a cavity which eventually healed up, bvit a year 
after, one day in London, he coughed up a piece of wood 
that must have been driven right through the tear-duct 
till it reached the passage at the back of the nose. The 
scar on his face seen in all later photogi"aphs of Selous was 
caused by the recoil of his first elephant -gun, which his 
native servant had inadvertently loaded twice. 

Of the expedition of 1887, when Selous hunted with J. A. 
Jameson, A. C. Fountaine, and Frank Cooper, no complete 
record seems to have been kept, but Selous narrates a few 
of their adventures in his articles in the Geogi'aphical 
Society's JournaP (1888), and in "Travel and Adventure in 
South-East Africa," pp. 445-7, he gives some details of 
their wanderings. 

It was not the habit of Selous to give up any scheme, 
however difficult, once he had set his heart upon it. We 
have seen how often his plans for reaching the " Promised 
Land " beyond the Zambesi had been foiled, but he never 
abandoned the idea and resolved to put it into execution 
whenever the opportunity should occur. At last, in 1888, 
he found himself free to make another attempt. He was in 
good health and possessed an ample supply of money to 
purchase material, which in the case of the long journey 
involved was a necessity. 

He left Bamangwato on April 9th, 1888, with two waggons, 
five salted horses, and sixteen donkeys. His intention was 
to go first to Lialui and take up his residence with Lewanika 
for at least a year. Panda-ma-tenka was reached on the 

1 Selous was a regular contributor to the Geographical Society's 
Journal. In course of time the Society honoured his discoveries by 
giving him the Cuthbert Peek grant, the Hack Premium and the Founder's 
Gold Medal. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 159 

i6th of May, and there Selous learned that the country to 
the north was in a very unsettled condition owing to rival 
claims to the chieftainship of Barotsiland, and that it might 
be months before he got across the Zambesi. Soon after, 
he met his old friend George Westbeech, who strongly 
advised him not to enter Barotsiland, but to take advantage 
of an invitation from Mr. Arnot, who was established in the 
Garanganzi country, which was said to be full of elephants. 

Accordingly Selous left his waggons and set off down the 
Zambesi, intending to cross the river at Wankie's Town and 
strike north along his old route of eleven years before. In 
the light of his subsequent adventures amongst the Mashu- 
kulumbwe it is here necessary to say something of his 
coloured companions on this eventful trip. There was 
Daniel, a Hottentot waggon-driver ; Paul, a Natal Zulu ; 
Charley, an interpreter who had been trained amongst 
Westbeech's elephant -hunters ; and two of Khama's men. 
All these were well armed with modern breechloading rifles. 
Besides these men he had four Mashunas who had served 
him on former expeditions, and whom he could trust in an 
emergency. Other boys were hired at Panda-ma-tenka, 
and with these and the donkeys carrying the outfit Selous 
set forth for Wankie's Town with complete confidence. 

Having arrived at Wankie's Town in eight days, the 
donkeys having been safely towed across the river, troubles 
now began. Daniel, the Hottentot, developed fever and 
died in four days, and then the boys whom he had hired at 
Panda-ma-tenka deserted. Selous, however, managed to 
get on with his own small lot, and even hired a few Batongas. 
But soon old Shampondo, the Batonga chief of the district, 
came and demanded further presents, bringing at the same 
time a small Batonga army to enforce his views. For a 
moment there was nearly trouble, as Selous' " boys " 
loaded their rifles at the threatening aspect of the natives, 
but their master, with his usual tact in dealing with savages, 
saved the situation, though he was not allowed to proceed 
without further extortion. Selous knew that later he would 
have to pass through the territory of Mwemba, " the biggest 
scoundrel " amongst the Batongas, so he importuned 



i6o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Shamedza to give him porters and to help as far as the 
Zongwi river, and this the chief did. 

The reason of these extortions was that the Batonga 
chiefs were afraid of the white men because of their own 
evil deeds. Although they had seen no Europeans since 
Dr. Livingstone, his brother, and Kirk, several Jesuit 
fathers had been as far as the Zambesi and had died or been 
maltreated. David Thomas had also been murdered by 
the Batongas, as well as a Portuguese trader. Selous knew 
that if he followed the Zambesi as far as the Kafukwe he was 
certain to be attacked and probabl}^ murdered. Accord- 
ingly he decided to strike due north to the Mashukulumbwe 
in spite of their evil reputation. 

Next day he reached the Muga and the following crossed 
the Kachomba river, and on the third day came to the 
Mwedzia , where he was able to hire a few useful men . During 
the following day he marched over what he describes as the 
" roughest country to walk over in the whole world," stony 
and barren conical hills devoid of game or water. On the 
third day he emerged into better country covered with 
forest and good grass, and here at a village he picked up a 
guide to take him to Monzi, a Batonga chief, who lived on 
a high plateau which was said to abound in game. 

The following day he reached the plateau and saw abun- 
dance of zebra, Liechtenstein's hart ebeest, blue wildebeest, 
roan antelope, and eland. Later he interviewed old Monzi, 
who told him he had seen no white man since the visit of 
Dr. Livingstone thirty-five years before. The natives were 
very friendly, as Selous gave them an eland and a zebra he 
had shot, and all seemed to go well. At Monzi's the traveller 
got two guides to take him to the Kafukwe, and at the 
second village he struck he found himself for the first time 
amongst the naked Mashukulumbwe. Here a lot of Sika- 
benga's men (Barotsi) arrived with a crowd of armed 
Mashukulumbwe, and said they had come to buy ammuni- 
tion. The attitude of the natives was suspicious, and when 
Selous refused either to sell them powder or to go with them, 
the}'^ said : " You will live two days more, but on the third 
day your head will lie in a different place from 3^our body." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS i6i 

Selous, however, paid no heed to their threats, and that 
day proceeded on his journey, telling his guides to proceed 
east to the Mashukulumbwe villages and intending to camp 
in the open veldt. Paul and Charley, who both had ex- 
perience with natives north of the Zambesi, agreed that 
this was the best policy, but " we unfortunately allowed 
ourselves to be dissuaded and led into the jaws of death by 
our ignorant guides." These men said the party would find 
no water on the plateau but only in the villages, so there 
they went. 

At the second village the natives were frightened, and, 
avoiding this place, they pressed on over a veldt teeming 
with game to the Ungwesi river. Here Selous camped at a 
village where, after preliminary shyness, the natives seemed 
fairly friendly and showed the hunter where to camp and 
get wood and water. At the Magoi-ee Selous found himself 
in a highly populated district and camped at a village where 
lived Minenga, the chief of the district. That worthy in- 
sisted on Selous camping alongside the village and would 
take no refusal. Accordingly Selous found himself in the 
lions' den, as it were, and felt .he must brave it out now if 
anything went wrong, so he set to work to make a " scherm " 
of cornstalks and plant -poles to secure the donkeys. 

After a while things did not look so bad, as the natives 
abandoned their spears and came and joined in a dance with 
the Batonga boys. Then, too, the women and girls came 
down and ate with Selous' men — usually a sure sign of 
peace. By nightfall Selous viewed the whole scene and felt 
he had no cause for alarm, and felt he had quite gained the 
goodwill of these savages. At nine o'clock, when Selous 
was already in bed, Minenga sent him a message to come to 
drink, but, as he was tired, he did not go. In the light of 
subsequent events, Selous was glad he had not accepted the 
invitation, for he would certainly have been murdered. 
The dance and noisy musical instruments were intended to 
drown any noise that might have occurred. 

Next day Selous hunted, and later, when in camp, was 
surrounded by great crowds of natives which, ho\Yever, 
left at sundown. 

M 



i62 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" I could not sleep, however, and was lying under my 
blanket, thinking of many things, and revolving various 
plans in my head, when about nine o'clock I observed a 
man come cautiously round the end of our scherm and pass 
quickly down the line of smouldering fires. As he stopped 
beside the fire, near the foot of Paul and Charley's blankets, 
I saw that he was one of the two men who had accompanied 
us as guides from Monzi's. I saw him kneel down and shake 
Paul by the leg, and then heard him whispering to him 
hurriedly and excitedly. Then I heard Paul say to Charley, 
' Tell our master the news ; wake him up.' I at once said, 
' What is it, Charley ? I am awake.' ' The man says, sir, 
that all the women have left the village, and he thinks that 
something is wrong,' he answered. I thought so too, and 
hastily pulled on my shoes, and then put on my coat and 
cartridge-belt, in which, however, there were only four 
cartridges. As I did so, I gave orders to my boys to ex- 
tinguish all the fires, which they instantly did by throwing 
sand on the embers, so that an intense darkness at once hid 
everjrthing within our scherm. 

" Paul and Charley were now sitting on their blankets 
with their rifles in their hands, and I went and held a 
whispered conversation with them, proposing to Paul that 
he and I should creep round the village and reconnoitre, 
and listen if possible to what the inhabitants were talking 
about. ' Wait a second,' I said, ' whilst I get out a few more 
cartridges,' and I was just leaning across my blankets to 
get at the bag containing them when three guns went off 
almost in my face, and several more at different points 
round the scherm. The muzzles of all these guns were 
within our scherm when they were discharged, so that our 
assailants must have crawled right up to the back of our 
camp and fired through the interstices between the corn- 
stalks. The three shots that were let off just in front of me 
were doubtless intended for Paul, Charley, and myself, but 
by great good luck none of us was hit. As I stooped to pick 
up my rifle, which was lying on the blankets beside me, 
Paul and Charley jumped up and sprang past me. ' Into 
the grass ! ' I called to them in Dutch, and prepared to 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 163 

follow. The discharge of the guns was immediately followed 
by a perfect shower of barbed javelins, which I could hear 
pattering on the large leathern bags in which most of our 
goods were packed, and then a number of Mashukulumbwe 
rushed in amongst us. 

" I can fairly say that I retained my presence of mind 
perfectly at this juncture. My rifle, when I picked it up, 
was unloaded ; for, in case of accident, I never kept it 
loaded in camp, and I therefore had first to push in a cart- 
ridge. As I have said before, between our camp and the 
long grass lay a short space of cleared ground, dug into 
irregular ridges and furrows. Across this I retreated back- 
wards, amidst a mixed crowd of my own boys and Mashuku- 
lumbwe. 

" I did my best to get a shot into one of our treacherous 
assailants, but in the darkness it was impossible to dis- 
tinguish friend from foe. Three times I had my rifle to my 
shoulder to fire at a Mashukulumbwe, and as often someone 
who I thought was one of my own boys came between. I 
was within ten yards of the long grass, but with my back 
to it, when, with a yell, another detachment of Mashuku- 
lumbwe rushed out of it to cut off our retreat. At this 
juncture I fell backwards over one of the ridges, and two 
men, rushing out of the grass, fell right over me, one of 
them kicking me in the ribs and falling over my body, 
whilst another fell over my legs. I was on my feet again in 
an instant, and then made a rush for the long grass, which 
I reached without mishap, and in which I felt comparatively 
safe. I presently crept forwards for about twenty yards 
and then sat still listening. Standing up again, I saw that 
the Mashukulumbwe were moving about in our camp. It 
was, however, impossible to see anyone with sufiicient 
distinctness to get a shot, for whenever one of the partiaUy- 
extinguished fires commenced to burn up again it was at 
once put out by having more sand thrown over it. 

" But I now thought no more of firing at them. I had 
had time to realise the full horror of my position. A solitary 
Englishman, alone in Central Africa, in the middle of a 
hostile country, without blankets or anything else but what 



i64 THEfLIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

he stood in and a rifle with four cartridges. I doubt whether 
Mark Tapley himself would have seen anjrthing cheerful 
in the situation. Could I only have found Paul or Charley 
or even one of my own Kafirs, I thought my chance of 
getting back to Panda-ma-tenka would be much increased, 
for I should then have an interpreter, I myself knowing 
but little of the languages spoken north of the Zambesi. 
I now began to quarter the grass cautiously backwards 
and forwards, whistling softly, in hopes that some of my 
own boys might be lying in hiding near me ; but I could 
find no one, and at length came to the conclusion that all 
those of my people who had escaped death would make the 
most of the darkness and get as far as possible from Minenga's 
before day-dawn, and I decided that I had better do the 



same. 



'1 



He therefore decided to strike for Monzi's, the first village 
where he dared to show himself. First he made his way down 
to the ford on the Magoi-ee, but luckily observed a party 
of men watching there. Selous then retreated some 300 
yards down stream and swam the river, which he well knew 
was swarming with crocodiles. 

" The Mashukulumbwe I saw had now made up the fires, 
upon which they were throwing bundles of grass, by the 
light of which I presume they were dividing my property. 
I turned my back upon this most melancholy spectacle and, 
taking the Southern Cross for my guide, which was now 
almost down, commenced my lonely journey." 

Selous' own account of his wanderings in his retreat from 
the Mashukulumbwe to the Zambesi makes some of the most 
interesting reading to be found in any book devoted to 
true adventure. Here he was, alone in Africa, only fur- 
nished with his rifle and four cartridges, a knife, and a few 
matches, and he had to overcome at least three hundred 
miles or more before he dared approach a village. It was a 
position that might have depressed any man except a 
genuine veldtsman, for that danger from all natives was to 
be feared was a certainty, since they would not hesitate to 
attack a single man whose life was wanted, just as one dog 

^ " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," pp. 221-224. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 165 

always chases another running behind a cart. All night 
long he walked, keeping a watchful eye for lions, and at 
the hill Karundu-ga-gongoma next day he searched for 
spoor to see if any of his boys had come that way, but there 
was no fresh sign, so he lay all day under a tree watching 
the ford of the river. Here he heard voices, and thinking 
they might be his own men he concealed himself and 
listened. Presently two heads appeared above the grass 
and he recognized two Mashukulumbwe by their cone- 
shaped head-dresses. They were evidently discussing the 
imprint of the hunter's shoes left on the sand. Selous was 
ready to shoot both if they saw him, but it was some relief 
when they turned and went back the way they had come. 
Hunger now began to assert itself, and the wanderer deter- 
mined to shoot anything he could find, but, as his stock of 
cartridges was so small, he had to make a certainty of each 
shot. Luckily at this moment a single wildebeest came by 
within thirty yards and furnished an abundant supply of 
meat. 

After a good dinner and the sun had set, Selous, shoulder- 
ing his rifle and a supply of meat, again struck south. At 
dawn, perished with cold, he reached the last Mashuku- 
lumbwe village, and, being near Monzi's, he determined to 
risk trouble, and entered the village. Here he found an im- 
armed boy, who furnished him with water, but even as he 
drank it he heard whispering in a hut close by and saw a 
man come out stealthily and vanish in the darkness. Pre- 
sently this man returned with a gun in his hand, and later 
Selous heard him testing a bullet with the ramrod. All was 
quiet for a time, however, and Selous sat dozing over the fire. 
Then he awoke with a start, to find that two unarmed men 
had arrived and sat by the fire close to him. They questioned 
him and he endeavoured to answer them. 

" In endeavouring to do so to the best of my ability, I 
kept gradually turning more towards them, till presently 
my rifle lay almost behind me. It was whilst I was in this 
position that I heard someone behind me. I turned quickly 
round to clutch my rifle, but was too late, for the man 
whom I had heard just stooped and seized it before my 



i66 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

own hand touched it, and, never pausing, rushed off with it 
and disappeared in the darkness. I sprang up, and at the 
same moment one of the two men who had engaged me in 
conversation did so too, and, in the act of rising, dropped 
some dry grass which he had hitherto concealed beneath 
his large ox-hide rug on to the fire. There was at once a 
blaze of light which lit up the whole of the open space 
around the fire. My eyes instinctively looked towards the 
hut which I had seen the man with the gun enter, and there, 
sure enough, he sat in the doorway taking aim at me not 
ten yards from where I sat. There was no time to remon- 
strate. I sprang out into the darkness, seizing one of the 
pieces of wildebeest meat as I did so ; and, as the village 
was surrounded with long grass, pursuit would have been 
hopeless, and was not attempted. My would-be assassin 
never got off his shot."^ 

Bad as his position had been, it was now far worse with 
the loss of his rifle. His only hope was that Monzi might 
prove friendly, so, after travelling all night, he reached 
Monzi 's village. When that old chief heard his story he 
said, " You must leave my village immediately. They will 
follow you up and kill you. Be off ! Be off instantly," 
Monzi was not so bad as the rest, he filled Selous' pockets 
with ground-nuts, and sent three men to take him a short 
distance, and these men strongly advised him not to trust 
the Batongas, in whose country he now found himself. 
After a meal it occurred to him that it would be a good plan 
to make south-east to Marancinyan, the powerful Barotsi 
chief, and throw himself on his protection. This chief was 
a friend of George Westbeech, the Zambesi trader, but the 
difficulty was to find his village. Somewhat unwisely, as it 
turned out, Selous visited some Batonga huts and asked a 
man the footpath to Sikabenga's (Marancinyan) kraal. This 
man at once roused the village, and a dozen armed men 
pursued and came up to Selous, who faced them, but these 
men proved not unfriendly, and even showed him the right 
track to follow. 

At last he reached Marancinyan 's kraal and found the 

1 " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," p. 232. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 167 

chief to be a tall, well-built young fellow, and, as he spoke 
Sintabili fairly well, conversation was easy. He did not 
treat the wanderer well, " yet had it not been for him I 
ihould in all probability have been murdered by the orders 
of his uncle. This, however, I only learnt some time after- 
wards, and though for three days I must have lived con- 
stantly in the very shadow of death, I had no idea at the 
time that my life was in danger." 

In three days Marancinyan told Selous that his life was in 
danger and that the Mashukulumbwe had followed, demand- 
ing his death, and that he must leave at once and go to a 
small Batonga village close by and wait there till sundown, 
when he would bring guides. 

Disturbed and suspicious at this news, Selous knew the 
Mashukulumbwe would never dare to threaten the well- 
armed Barotsi. However, he saw he must comply and trust 
to the Barotsi chief's promise. Accordingly he went off, 
but as Marancinyan did not appear Selous returned to his 
kraal and thus boldly addressed him : " What do you mean, 
Marancinyan, who say that you are George Westbeech's 
friend and the friend of all white men, by sending me to 
sleep among your dogs ? Have you given orders to murder 
me in the night ? If you want to kill me, you can do so here 
in your own town." This seemed to have upset the chief, 
who again repeated that Selous' life was in danger and that 
if he would go and sleep at the Batonga village he would 
for certain bring guides to lead him to Panda-ma-tenka. 

On the following morning the chief fulfilled his promise, 
and next day Selous reached a Batonga village under one 
Shoma. Here he found a friend who gave him fresh guides, 
and also heard the welcome news that ten of his boys had 
slept in a village close by and were making for the village 
of Shankopi far to the south. Here, five days later, Selous 
met with the remnant of his party, who had for long given 
him up for lost. They were very glad to greet their master, 
and " patted me on the breast and kissed my hands." In 
the night attack it appears that twelve men were killed and 
six more wounded out of the whole twenty-five. Everyone 
had had narrow escapes. 



i68 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" Paul, the Zulu, got through the first rush of our assailants 
unhurt, but was nearly dro\vned in crossing the river, where 
he lost my single lo-bore rifle, Charley also got out of the 
scherm unwounded, and, making his way to the river, 
there fell in with two of our boys, and with their assistance 
crossed safely with rifle, cartridge-belt, and clothes. I 
found that we had all done the same thing, namely, held to 
the south through the night, across country. Charley said 
he was close to me when I shot the wildebeest ; he heard 
the shot, and ran with the two boys in the direction, but 
never saw me. I fancy he must have passed me whilst I 
was cooking the meat, as I was then in a deep hollow. He 
too had been seen and pursued in the daytime near the 
village where my rifle was captured, but again escaped in 
the long grass. This had also happened to the survivor of 
the two Mangw^to men, who, being likewise alone and un- 
armed, had incautiously approached a village. He said 
that one man got close up to him and threw three assegais 
at him, one of which cut his right hand. At last, however, 
he outran him and escaped. Neither Paul, Charley, nor 
the rest had gone near Monzi's, or any other village, being 
afraid of the inhabitants, but had kept through the veldt, 
and only cut into our trail beyond the hill U-Kesa-Kesa. 
Here Charley shot a zebra, and was shortly afterwards 
joined by Paul, who had then been three days \vithout food. 
Farther on Charley shot another zebra, and here he and 
Paul remained for three days more, hoping that I would 
turn up, and collecting all the other survivors of our party." ^ 

After this all danger and most of the hardship were past. 
They got provisions, and in a few days crossed the Zambesi, 
and three days later reached the waggons at Panda-ma-tenka. 
Thus it took the party about three weeks to cross three 
hundred miles of country since the night of the attack by 
the Mashukulumbwe. 

In time Selous was able to piece together the reasons why 
he was attacked by the Mashukulumbwe. The actual cause 
of the trouble was due to Sikabenga's uncle, who sent a 
party of men north after Selous to get powder from him 

^ " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," p. 241. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 169 

at all costs, even if they had to kill him. These were the 
men Selous met the day he left Monzi's. Then the hunter 
refusing them powder, they followed him up and induced 
the Mashukulumbwe to attack him. One of the Barotsi 
warriors was left in a village beyond Monzi's, having fallen 
sick, and this was the man who tried to shoot Selous and 
failed. 

Sikabenga, who had acted on his uncle's instructions, but 
was really anxious to save the white man's life, was there- 
fore in a quandary when Selous appeared and threw himself 
on his protection, and especially so when he expected the 
loot from Selous' camp to arrive at any moment. That was 
why he was so anxious to get him out of the village, for if 
Selous had observed Sikabenga 's complicity in the attack 
that chief would have been obliged to order his murder. 
But Sikabenga himself did not long survive in this land of 
battle, murder, and sudden death, for a Matabele iinpi 
crossed the Zambesi in August, 1889, and killed him and 
most of his people. 

Most men, having gone through such exciting experi- 
ences, would have been content to have given African 
savages a wide berth for a long period afterwards, but not 
so Selous, whose reckless disposition he himself describes 
as " nearly equal to that of the Wandering Jew." But a few 
days elapsed and he was again planning a journey across 
the Zambesi to visit Lewanika, the head chief of the Barotsi, 
with the purpose of selling to him some of his salted 
horses and getting permission to hunt elephants in the un- 
known country north of the Kabompo river in the following 
year. 

After shooting five elands to furnish meat at his main 
camp during his absence, Selous crossed the Zambesi, 
towing his horses behind a canoe. From here he moved 
westwards to the Ungwesi river. After crossing the Kasaia 
the horses ran away, but were recovered after they had 
passed through some belts of " fly " country, but as the 
day was cloudy and a high wind blowing no serious results 
were to be feared. When the horses turned up, the party 
moved on to Sesheki, where Selous met two missionaries, 



170 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

branch workers belonging to Mr. Coillard's mission, long 
established in Barotsiland. 

After leaving Sesheki's the road led through " fly " 
country, which was traversed by night, and, crossing the 
Loanja, a dull, comparatively gameless country was tra- 
versed, until the party reached Sefula and Lialui in the main 
Barotsi valley. Here Selous met Mr. and Mrs. Coillard, 
who did so much for this country and who survived the 
pestilential climate for many years. 

Selous was well received by Lewanika, who was perhaps 
the most enlightened black chief in all South Africa with 
perhaps the exception of Khama. With him he did some 
good trading. It was interesting to observe the attitude of 
the natives to their chief when an audience was granted. 

" When strangers came in, they saluted the chief most 
ceremoniously. First they would kneel down in a row, and 
after clapping their hands, bend their heads forward until 
their foreheads touched the ground, when the head was 
moved slowly from side to side ; then, raising their heads 
again, they would look towards the chief, and throwing 
their arms quickly and wildly into the air would shout 
twice in unison, and in slow measured tones, the words 
' So-yo, so-yo.' This ceremony would be twice repeated, 
when, after clapping their hands again, they would get up 
and retire." 

Selous found the Barotsi valley enervating and far from 
interesting, although birds were numerous in the swamp- 
lands. Cranes, storks, avocets, spoonbills, herons, bitterns, 
egrets, wattled and spur-winged plovers, stilts, dotterel, 
and curlew were abundant and afforded him some amuse- 
ment in watching their habits, but the large game, except 
lechwe, were rare. Beyond Sinanga to the west the scenery 
became more beautiful, and here the hunter found tracks 
of elephants and large herds of buffalo. He also visited the 
Falls of the Gonyi, which few travellers had ever seen. At 
the mouth of the River Nangombi his boatmen killed a huge 
reed-rat, like an immense guinea-pig, which Selous believed 
was an animal new to science. Next day a disaster befell 
one of the canoes, which was sunk in twelve feet of water by 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 171 

a hippopotamus, and the traveller was only able to recover 
a small portion of its valuable cargo. Soon after this he 
turned back and reached his waggons on the 12th of October, 
going south in December, and reaching Bamangwato early 
in January, 1889. 



CHAPTER VIII 

1889-1892 

EARLY in 1889 Selous met Frank Johnson at 
Bamangwato and was asked by him to act as guide 
for a gold prospecting expedition to the upper re- 
gions of the Mazoe River. As it was then impossible to con- 
duct such an expedition through Matabeleland, Lobengula 
having closed all the roads, Selous, accompanied by Mr. 
Burnett and Mr. Thomas, an experienced miner, travelled by 
sea to Ouilimani, in Portuguese territory, and then to Loko- 
loko on the Ouaqua by boat, and thence overland to Mazaro 
on the Zambesi. From here the party travelled up-stream to 
Tete, where the Governor, Senhor Alfredo Alpuina, neither 
helped nor hindered them to any extent. Selous had orders 
to mark out gold-bearing areas in Portuguese territory, but 
from the first had difficulty with his porters (Shakundas), 
who were fearful of meeting the natives of Motoko, with 
whom the Portuguese had been at war. 

On August i8th the travellers left Tete, and went first 
towards Zumbo and then south to the Kangadzi and 
Kansawa rivers, where they met a troop of lions, one of 
which, a lioness, Burnett killed. On September ist twenty- 
nine out of forty-two carriers bolted, and their loss was more 
or less made good by men from surrounding villages. At 
the kraal of a chief, Maziwa,they were subjected to the usual 
extortion, which excited the remaining Shakunda carriers 
to practise a little blackmail. Things got so bad that Selous 
decided to destroy a good part of his trade goods and to push 
on in spite of Maziwa's threats. A short retreat was, however, 
necessary, and the remaining Shakunda carriers, except one 
who remained faithful, were dismissed. From Rusambo a 
fresh start was made. Near the head of the Umkaradsi 

172 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 173 

Valley Selous found a fine unnamed mountain, which he 
called Mount Darwin, after the illustrious naturaUst, and 
then pushed on to Mapondera's kraal, which was in the 
centre of a gold-bearing district. Mapondera, chief of the 
Makori-kori, was a powerful chief, and from him Selous 
obtained a mineral concession, and got him to sign a paper 
to the effect that he considered himself in no way under 
Portuguese rule. This was important, for at this time the 
Portuguese, although holding none of the country, considered 
that they owned Mashunaland. 

Having concluded his business, Selous decided to try and 
fix the actual source of the Mazoe, which was then unknown. 
Accordingly, he and Burnett started off on their wanderings, 
leaving Thomas, who was ill with fever, at Mapondera's 
kraal. 

We need not follow the travels of Selous and his com- 
panions in their subsequent journeys, for Selous' own survey 
of this country and his remarks on Mount Hampden and its 
neighbourhood, are published in the Journals of the Royal 
Geographical Society Suffice it to say, that on October loth 
Selous and Burnet' returned to Rusambo, after having care- 
fully surveyed the adjoining country. The party then 
struck down the Ruenya river, where they killed some 
hippopotami, and reached Tete again on October 23rd. 
Here Selous had a stormy interview with the Governor, 
who accused him of being an agent of the British Govern- 1 
ment, and demanded the document made between himself 
and Mapondera. This, however, Selous declined to agree to, 
but eventually gave him a copy. After this the party had 
no further trouble, and reached Cape Town early in 
December. 

At this time (1890) all circumstances seemed to point to 
the fact that unless the British Government took possession 
of Mashunaland the Portuguese intended to do so. In 1888 
Lord Salisbury had proclaimed it to be within the sphere of 
British influence, and said that he would not recognize the 
claims of Portugal unless that country could show occupa- 
tion. It was therefore, in Selous' opinion at any rate, clear 
that the Portuguese expeditions of 1889 made against local 



174 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

chiefs in the North-East, were undertaken to prove conquest 
and ownership, for at this time no Enghshman was domiciled 
nearer Mashunaland than Matabeleland. 

In view therefore of coming trouble Selous, wlio was then 
aware of Rhodes' schemes, wrote this letter to the " Selous 
Syndicate," setting forth the extreme importance of estab- 
lishing occupation at once by British pioneers, or the valu- 
able country of Mashunaland would be lost to us. On reach- 
ing Cape Town he at once proceeded to Kimberley, and was 
delighted to find that Mr. Rhodes fully concurred with his 
views, and was determined that the country should be 
occupied in the cause of the British South African Company 
during the coming year (1890). Selous then laid before him 
his idea of cutting a road passing from the south-east of 
Matabeleland due north to the Portuguese frontier. This 
scheme Rhodes did not at first approve of, ^ but he afterwards 
accepted it in its entirety. 

" It is due to Mr. Cecil Rhodes alone," writes Selous, " I 
cannot too often repeat, that to-day our country's flag flies 
over Mashunaland. He alone of all Englishmen possessed 
at the same tune the prescience and breadth of mind to 
appreciate the ultimate value of the country, combined with 
the strong will which, in spite of all obstacles, impelled the 
means and the power successfully to carry out the scheme 
of its immediate occupation. What the acquisition of this 
vast country means is as yet scarcely apparent to the great 
majority of Englishmen, perhaps to none who are not 
acquainted with the history of South Africa during the 
present century, or who have not watched the giant strides 
which have taken place in its development during the last 
twenty years. But, in the not distant future, when quick 
and easy communications into Mashunaland have been 
established, and the many diflicidties which now hamper 
the development of this the youngest of British colonies 
have been overcome, then I think Englishmen will be able 

* Rhodes' original plan was to attack Lobengula with a small force. 
This, Selous pointed out to him, would be certain to lead to disaster since 
Rhodes' information as to the strength of the Matabele was obviously 
incorrect. It is therefore clear that Selous in over-persuading him to 
abandon this method rendered him and the nation a considerable service. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 175 

to appreciate what they owe to Mr. Rhodes for inaugurating 
a new departure in South African history, and securing for 
his countrymen the first ' show in ' in a country which 
must ultimately become a very valuable possession." 

By the end of 1889 Rhodes drew up his plan of occupation, 
which was approved by Sir Henry Loch, High Commissioner 
for South Africa, and other authorities. The guidance of the 
expedition was left entirely in the hands of Selous. The 
route of the road to be cut was from the Macloutsie river, 
over the high plateaux of Fort Charter and Salisbury, and 
north to Manica. 

In January, 1890, Selous wrote his letter to the " Times," 
which gave a very complete survey of the Portuguese and 
British claims, as well as a general description of the country j 
it was proposed to occupy. 

In February and March he made a flying visit to Bula- 
wayo, where he saw Lobengula, who gave him a message for 
Cecil Rhodes. Writing from Palapswi, on March 26th, he 
says : " I got back the day before yesterday from Matabele- 
land and leave to-morrow for Kimberley. I am the bearer 
of a message from Lobengula to Mr. Cecil Rhodes. He 
promises to come to an understanding with Mr. Rhodes as 
to the opening up of Mashunaland if Rhodes will go up to 
Bulawayo and arrange with him personally. I am going to 
try and persuade Mr. Rhodes to accompany me back to 
Bulawayo immediately. I hope he will be able to go, and 
trust some satisfactory arrangement may be come to. Still, 
I distrust Lobengula and his people. Things are in such a 
condition just now regarding Matabeleland and Mashuna- 
land that it is quite impossible to tell what may happen. 
Everything may be settled peaceably (or forcibly) this year. 
Or again, the High Commissioner may forbid any expedition 
to be made this year against the wish of Lobengula. The 
question is a very strange one. The Charter was granted to 
the South African Company on the strength of their having 
obtained a concession from Lobengula for the mineral rights 
in Matabele- and Mashunaland. These rights were really 
bought, and a lot of money was paid to Lobengula directly, 
and to his people indirectly, by the agents of the Company. 



176 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Now it seems as if Lobengula was inclined to disallow 
Europeans to work for gold, either in Matabele- or Mashuna- 
land. In order to avoid trouble, the Company now wish to 
waive their rights in Matabeleland proper, where they would 
necessarily come in contact with the Matabele people, and 
to exploit and develop Mashunaland, a country to which the 
Matabele have no just title. In order to do this without 
coming into contact with Lobengula and his people, the 
Company now wish to make a road to Mashunaland that 
shall not touch Matabeleland at all, but pass to the south of 
that country, and it is quite possible that Lobengula and 
his people, fearing to let whites get beyond him and establish 
themselves in Mashunaland, will try and prevent this road 
being made. At present the political situation in England 
is a most ridiculous one as regards Mashunaland. Lord 
Salisbury has warned the Portuguese out of it, saying that 
it is to him the sphere of British influence, and now Loben- 
gula will nbt allow British subjects or any white men to enter 
his country as long as he can keep them out. I abhor the 
Matabele, yet I would not have them interfered with or their 
country invaded without a casus belli ; but that they should 
keep Europeans out of Mashunaland is preposterous." 

In March, 1890, Selous was sent up to Palapswi with 
instructions to get men from Khama to cut a waggon-road 
to the eastern border of his country. He was, moreover, 
to be assisted by some Matabele in this critical work, and so 
visited Lobengula at Bulawayo to explain the objects in 
view. Lobengula, however, denied having ever given 
Dr. Jameson any promise about assisting in the making of 
the road, and firmly asserted that he would not allow it to 
be made. He said that he would not discuss matters with 
any of Rhodes' emissaries, and that if there was to be any 
talk the " Big White Chief " himself must come to visit him. 
Wherefore Selous returned to Kimberley and saw Mr. 
Rhodes, who sent Dr. Jameson, and with him Selous then 
returned to Tati. 

Meanwhile a considerable force, about four hundred white 
men, had been gathered at the Macloutsie with the intention 
of occupying Mashunaland, whether the Matabele liked it or 




X 

H 

O 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 177 

not. Selous himself was sent eastward to pick out a good 
line for a waggon-road as far as the Shashi and Tuli rivers — 
which survey he concluded by May, It was during one of 
these journeys he was lucky enough to find and kill the best 
koodoo bull he ever saw, a magnificent specimen, 60 inches 
long on the curve and 45| straight. By the loth of June 
the waggon-track to Tuli was open. 

The pioneer expedition now moved, with the scouts in 
front ; the Matabele threatened to attack, but did not do so, 
and Selous, with his scouting parties in advance and 
covered by Khama's mounted men, commenced cutting the 
long road from the Macloutsie to Mount Hampden, a 
distance of four hundred and sixty miles. As each section 
of the road was cut the main expeditionary force followed 
after. About the worst section was between the Umzing- 
wane and the Umshabetse rivers, a desolate thirst -land ; but 
this was passed in three days. This territory, which I visited 
in 1893, was claimed by the Matabele, and includes the 
King's private hunting-ground, and the pioneers expected 
every moment to be attacked ; so every precaution was 
taken, the mounted men keeping a sharp watch and the axe- 
men doing the cutting. 

From the Umshabetse river Selous wrote to his mother 
(July 13th, 1890) : "I am here with an advanced party of 
the pioneer force — forty men — all mounted. We have 
already cut nearly 120 miles of road from the B.S.A. Com- 
pany's camp on the Macloutsie river, and are now on the 
borders of the Banyai country. We are already far to the 
east of all the inhabited part of Matabeleland and are now 
going north-east, always keeping more than 150 miles as 
the crow flies from Bulawayo. So far we have seen nothing 
of the Matabele. We are, however, taking every precaution 
against surprise, and always have scouts out in front and 
several miles behind us on the road who do not come in till 
after dark. We keep watch all night, too, with relays of 
guards. Should a large impi come down to attack us, we 
shall simply abandon our waggon and retire on the main 
body, which is now coming on, on the road we have made. 
Our main body is composed of four hundred good men. 



178 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

besides fifty native mounted scouts supplied by Khama. 
If we can get two hours' notice of the approach of the 
Matabele, just sufficient time to have all the waggons put 
into ' laager ' on the old Boer plan, Lobengula's men can 
do nothing to us. If they attack us in * laager ' they must 
suffer fearful loss. The young men want to fight, but 
Lobengula and the older men want peace. However, do not 
be downhearted, dearest mother. Personally, I hope there 
will be no fighting." 

On July i8th the main column caught up the roadmakers 
at the Umshabetse river, and on August ist the Lunti river 
was reached, Selous now scouted ahead and found an easy 
road to the plateau ahead, and by " Providential Pass " the 
expedition eventually emerged from the forest into the open 
country. 

Whilst they were cutting the road from the Lunti to Fort 
Victoria an ultimatum was received from Lobengula by 
Colonel Pennefather that he must turn back at once, unless 
he "thought he was strong enough to go on," and warning 
him to expect trouble if he did so. 

By this time, however, Lobengula had lost his best chance 
of attacking the expeditionary force, for they had now 
emerged on the open downs ; yet it is a wonder he managed 
to keep his young men in check. Had he attacked in the 
bush country it is doubtful if our forces, even if they had not 
met with a reverse, would have been able to proceed. At 
any rate intense excitement prevailed in Matabeleland, and 
many new impis of warriors were formed ready to take 
action. 

On September ist the expedition reached the source of the 
Umgezi, where Fort Charter was established ; so that by 
September 30th the Company had a continuous chain of 
forts and posts over eight hundred miles from Tuli to Fort 
Salisbury. Here Selous left the expedition, as he was the 
only man who knew the surrounding country, and it was 
essential for him to go with Mr. A. R. Colquhoun to confer 
with Umtasa, the chief of Manica. On September 14th a 
treaty was agreed to by which the British South Africa Com- 
pany acquired and took possession of a large area of auri- 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 179 

ferous country — much to the annoyance of the Portuguese, 
who claimed it. Treaties were concluded with all the other 
chiefs except Motoko, whom Selous visited early in Nov- 
ember. The Portuguese, however, did not give up their 
claims without some show of force, for when Major Forbes 
went down to take over parts of Manica he had trouble with 
the Portuguese, and had to arrest Colonel d'Andrada and 
others, to avoid bloodshed ; and for safety sent his prisoners 
to Fort Salisbury. 

Before reaching Salisbury at the end of November, Selous 
spent three months altogether in travelling through the 
northern and eastern districts of Mashunaland and conclud- 
ing treaties of amity with all the native chiefs. This, 
besides mapping and literary work — describing the country 
— occupied his time till the middle of December, when he 
again visited Motoko, chief of the Mabudja, to obtain a 
treaty of friendship, as well as a mineral concession, in 
which he was quite successful. In October he wTote home 
from Mangwendi's kraal praising the climate of Eastern 
Mashunaland, and evidently in high spirits at the great 
success of the pioneer expedition. " The opening up of 
Mashunaland seems like a dream, and I have played a not 
unimportant part in it all, I am proud to say. The road to 
Mashunaland is now being called the ' Selous Road,' and I 
hope the name will endure, though I don't suppose it will. 
At any rate, the making of the road was entrusted entirely 
to me and I did my work to everyone's satisfaction. An 
old Boer ofdcer said to me, just before the expedition started, 
' I think that the expedition without Mr. Selous would be 
like a swarm of bees that has lost its Queen and does not 
know where to go to.' Yet it is too bad of me to sing my 
own praises, but I do feel most proud at the share I had in 
putting it through, the whole idea, too, of making the road at 
all and thus circumventing the Matahele and gaining possession 
of Mashunaland was my own. I proposed it to Rhodes in 
Kimberley on my return from the Zambesi last December. 
At first he did not like the idea ; but after thinking it over, 
resolved to try and carry it out, with the result that Mashuna- 
land is now practically a British province. 



i8o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" Before the rainy season is over, the Company will 
probably have come to some definite understanding with 
Lobengula, who, by the by, recognized my importance in the 
expedition by sending down a message to Sir Henry Loch, 
the High Commissioner, that ' Selous had turned his oxen 
and his horses into his (Lobengula 's) cornfields.' " 

Writing from Motoko's kraal on November i6th, he says : 
" Before coming here, I have had no difficulty with any of 
the other chiefs, but here I have had a lot of worry and 
trouble. My great difficulty is that the whole country is 
really ruled, not by the chief (Motoko) but by one whom 
they call the ' Lion-God.' This appears to be a hereditary 
office, and the holder of it lives away by himself in the 
mountains, and is looked upon with superstitious dread and 
reverence by the Chief and his people. However, I have 
now got things on a friendly footing, but I shall have to go 
back to Fort Salisbury, in order to get certain articles to 
appease the ' Lion-God,' and then return here before I shall 
finally be able to conclude the treaty with Motoko. I am 
under engagement to the Company till the end of next 
August, and do not think I shall take a fresh engagement, 
as I am anxious to get home. Having passed the best part 
of my life in the wilderness and amongst savages, I should 
now like to see something of civilized countries, with perhaps 
an occasional short trip into an out-of-the-way place. If I 
live to be an old man, I should like to re-visit this country, 
thirty or forty years hence, by railroad." 

In January, 1891, he returned to Umtali, where he received 
orders to cut a road from that place to Lower Revui, and 
afterwards to lay a new road from the Odzi river to Salisbury. 
February was the wet season, so it was with some difficulty 
that he set about his task on the Odzi in company with Mr. 
W. L. Armstrong. On May 3rd, however, he had made one 
hundred and fifty miles of road to Salisbury, riding three 
strong horses to a standstill in his numerous peregrinations. 
Then news reached him of further trouble with the Portu- 
guese, and he was asked by Mr. Colquhoun to take two 
waggon-loads of stores and ammunition to the small British 
garrison isolated at Manica, where there was an inuninent 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS i8i 

prospect of fighting. Whereat he expresses his views clearly 
as to his own inclinations as regards soldiering. " Now I 
am not a fighting man, and neither look forward with 
enthusiasm to the prospect of being shot, nor feel any strong 
desire to shoot anyone else." 

However, he regarded the matter, as he always did when 
called upon, as a duty, and left at once for Manica with 
Lieutenant Campbell and twenty ex-pioneers. On May 13th 
the party reached Umtali, where they heard that the 
Portuguese had made a sortie from Massi-Kessi, and had 
attacked Captain Heyman's camp near Chua, The Portu- 
guese troops, numbering one hundred whites and blacks from 
Angola, however, had shot so badly that no one was hit and 
soon lost heart and bolted back to Massi-Kessi, which was 
soon after occupied by our forces. To his mother he wrote 
from Umtali, May 20th, 1891 : — 

" I got down here on the 13th by the new road I have 
made for the Company, with about twenty men and two 
waggon-loads of provisions, and we were astonished to hear 
that a fight had already taken place near Massi-Kessi on the 
afternoon of the nth, and I will now tell you what has 
actually taken place. It appears that on the 5th of this 
month the Portuguese reoccupied Massi-Kessi, with a force 
consisting of about one hundred white soldiers and three or 
four hundred black troops. Thereupon Captain Heyman 
went over from here (Umtali Camp) to near Massi-Kessi 
with fifty men and a seven-pounder cannon, and a lot ot 
Umtasa's men, to protest against the invasion of Umtasa's 
country. Two days later. Captain Heyman and Lieutenant 
Morier (a son of Sir Robert Morier, British Ambassador at 
St. Petersburg) went down to Massi-Kessi with a flag of 
truce, to interview Ferreira, the Commander of the Portu- 
guese forces, and the Governor of Manica. Ferreira told him 
that he was at Massi-Kessi, in accordance with the terms of 
the modus vivendi which the Company's forces were breaking, 
by being at Umtali, and said that he would drive the Com- 
pany's men out of the country. Captain Heyman then said 
that he had better not do anything before the expiration of 
the modus vivendi, to which he replied that he would attack 



i82 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

him whenever he thought fit to do so. Captain Heyman's 
position was on a hill about five miles from Massi-Kessi. 
On the loth, I think, one of the Portuguese officers came up 
with a flag of truce, evidently to see what number of men 
Captain Heyman had with him. He only saw about fifteen, 
as all the rest were lying down in the long grass, and it must 
have been from his report that an attack was resolved upon. 
Captain Heyman told me that he was immensely surprised 
to see the Portuguese troops swarming out of Massi-Kessi at 
about 2 p.m. on the nth. They advanced in two bodies, 
led by the Portuguese officers. Captain Heyman first fired 
a blank charge with the cannon to which they paid no atten- 
tion, and then seeing that they meant business the firing 
commenced in earnest. The firing lasted two hours. The 
Portuguese officers did all they could to get their men on, 
and behaved very well indeed ; but their men evidently did 
not relish the business, and after making two attempts to 
reach a hill which would have commanded Captain Heyman's 
position, broke and fled back to Massi-Kessi. Not a single 
man of the Company's force was hit, but the Portuguese 
lost an officer (Captain Bettencourt), and it is believed about 
twenty men. Early next morning Captain Heyman sent a 
man down to Massi-Kessi with a flag of truce, offering the 
services of the doctor, and when he got there he found the 
place deserted. For some unaccountable reason the Portu- 
guese had deserted the place, leaving nine machine-guns, 
ammunition, and stores and provisions of all kinds behind 
them. It is thought that a panic set in amongst the black 
troops, and the white Portuguese were afraid to remain 
behind without them. The whole affair is very inglorious 
to the Portuguese arms, and will have a great effect on their 
prestige with the natives. Of course Massi-Kessi was seized 
and looted by the northern barbarians, and has now been 
blown up and destroyed. Everybody is longing for another 
Portuguese expedition to come up, as then there will be a 
chance of more loot . What will happen now it is impossible 
to say, but I think that the British Government must step in, 
and either order the Company to leave Manica, or else sup- 
port it against the Portuguese, in which case they will be 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 183 

unable to do anything of importance. They will now, I 
think, have great difficulty in getting up here, as the natives 
are all hostile to them and all their carriers will have to be 
brought from other parts. The country, too, is a very 
difficult one to travel through. I shall be very glad when 
things are settled, as Mashunaland will be kept back until 
they are. I have been down with Colonel Pennefather, as I 
told you, on a reconnaissance about thirty miles beyond 
Massi-Kessi, on the track of the Portuguese, and they have 
evidently beaten a hasty retreat." 

Immediately after this fiasco Selous went down to 
Umliwan's kraal, situated between the Pungwi and the Busi 
rivers, to fetch away the abandoned waggons. One night, 
whilst on the return journey, the camp was attacked by 
five lions and an ox killed. Next morning Selous, of course, 
went after them, but failed to get a shot. The following night 
he made a small hut close to the carcase of the ox, and into 
this Selous and Armstrong crept at sunset, and the night's 
adventure as described by Selous^ is one of the best stories 
he ever wrote. The lions kept continually returning to the 
carcase. Several shots were fired and two lionesses and a 
hyena killed, but one wounded lion succeeded in escaping. 

Although he says little of it at the time, Selous did an 
immense amount of tramping to and fro, all footwork 
because of the " fly," in the unhealthy country, both con- 
tiguous to and in the Portuguese territory about the Pungwi 
and Busi rivers in 1891 and 1892, in the hope of finding a 
road to the East Coast that would be free from the tsetse fly 
and where waggons could pass. In this he was unsuccessful, 
and he was reluctantly forced to admit that a railway would 
be the only method of transport to the coast, and that until 
this was made no progress was possible. However, his 
journeys carried him for the first time into the last great 
haunt of game south of the Zambesi, for at this time the 
whole of the territory in the neighbourhood of these rivers 
was one huge game reserve which, owing to its unhealthi- 
ness, was seldom visited by sportsmen or even meat -hunters. 
And so it continued till 1896, when the rinderpest swept off 

1 " Travel and Adventure in S.E. Africa," pp. 417-425. 



i84 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

nine-tenths of the koodoos, elands and buffalo. Since that 
day the game recovered in a measure, and even to-day there 
is more game there than anywhere south of the Zambesi, 
but it contains a shadow of its former abundance at the 
time when Selous first visited it. Practically Selous was the 
first white man to see this great assembly of game and to 
hunt them, for the Portuguese were not hunters and never 
left the footpaths. He found vast herds of buffaloes in the 
reed- beds, bushbucks as tame as in the Garden of Eden 
stood gazing at a few yards and did not fly at the approach 
of man, whilst out on the plains there was a constant pro- 
cession of Liechtenstein's hartebeest, blue wildebeests, 
tsessebes, water-bucks, zebras, and here and there were 
always scattered parties of reedbucks, oribis, and the smaller 
antelopes. Wart-hogs and bush-pigs were equally tame and 
confiding, and hippopotami disported in the rivers and 
lagoons in broad daylight, and there was not a night that 
several troops of lions were not heard roaring. Yet curiously 
enough, in spite of the abundance of the last-named, Selous 
only saw three individuals, one of which he killed after it 
had charged twice. This, he says, was the last of " thirty- 
one lions I have shot."^ This number does not tally with 
the statement, " I have only shot twenty-five lions when 
entirely by myself," ^ but the discrepancy is accounted for 
by the fact that he killed six lions between 1893 and 1896. 

The opening up of the new country proceeded rapidly 
till June, 1892, when Selous wrote to his mother from 
Salisbury : — 

" The telegraph wire is now at Fort Charter, and before 
the end of next month the office will be opened here in 
Salisbury, and Mashunaland will be in telegraph communi- 
cation with the whole of the civilized world. This, if you 
come to think of it, is really a magnificent piece of enter- 
prise. We are having the most lovely weather up here, 
although it is the middle of summer and the rainy season ; 
nice cool cloudy .days, with showers of rain occasionally, 
but nothing worth speaking of. The Government buildings 

^ "African Native Notes and Reminiscences," p. 311, 1908. 
- Badminton Library. "The Lion in S. Africa," p. 316, 189^. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 185 

are progressing rapidly. We now have an abundance of 
vegetables here. Everything thrives marvellously, potatoes, 
cabbage, onions, shalots, radishes, lettuces, etc. etc. Wheat 
sowed in August last by the head of the Africander Bond 
deputation, ripened and was cut in four months and a few 
days from the date of sowing, and has been sent down to 
Cape Town. Major Johnson's agricultural expert pro- 
nounced it to be as fine a sample of wheat as he had ever seen, 
and says he will be able to raise two crops a year. In fact, 
the country is now proved to be an exceptionally fine one 
for both agriculture and stock -farming, in spite of Mr. 
Labouchere and Lord Randolph Churchill. The gold 
prospects are also improving, and many of Mr. Perkins' 
prognostications have already been falsified. I think there 
is no doubt that this country will have a grand future, but 
the development will be very slow for some time yet ; in 
fact, until a railway has been made from the East coast, at 
least as far as Manica. Once this railway has been buUt, 
however, the country must be developed very quickly, I 
think. All impartial persons agree that the climate on this 
plateau is cooler and altogether more enjoyable than that 
of Kimberley and many other parts of civilized South Africa ; 
but, of course, directly one leaves the plateau and gets into 
the low bush-country towards the Zambesi, the East coast, 
or the Transvaal, fever is rife during the rainy season. Un- 
fortunately, most of the gold-belts are in this unhealthy zone, 
and until the bush is cut down, the land cultivated, and 
good houses are built round the mines, miners will suffer 
from fever in the bad season ; but this is the same in all new 
countries. I am now going down to make a road from 
Manica to the other side of Massi-Kessi, so as to be ready 
from our side to meet the tramway or railway which the 
Mozambique Company have undertaken to make from the 
Pungwi river. My intention is to leave the Company's 
service in June next, and in August I shall go down to the 
East coast, and hope to be in Johannesburg in October, and 
in England before the end of the year. I do not intend to 
revisit Mashunaland for several years, but I shall have con- 
siderable interests there, which will increase in value as the 



i86 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

country develops. I intend to visit America, to see the 
World's Fair, in 1893, and should like to visit Japan at the 
same time. I consider myself independent, as I can live on 
the ;^330 a year which my de Beers shares produce, and I 
have a good many more properties which may turn out 
valuable," 

Selous continued making roads until May, 1892, when 
there being no further work for him to do, he terminated 
his engagement with the British South Africa Company, 
and went down to Beira, and so to Cape Town and England, 
which he reached on December 17th, 1892. Before leaving, 
however, he did a little hunting, and killed his last lion on 
October 3rd, and his last elephant, a splendid old bull, 
with tusks weighing 108 lbs. the pair, on October 7th. 

It was in December, 1891, that Selous killed his finest 
lion, a splendid animal with a good mane, and one whose 
pegged-out skin measured over eleven feet. This lion had 
done much damage at Hartley Hills, breaking into stables 
and kraals, and destroyed many horses and goats. This was 
an unusually daring beast, and efforts to destroy him had 
been of no avail. Whilst dining with Dr. Edgelow one night, 
Selous heard his driver, John, fire from his camp close by, 
and called out to ask the cause. The driver replied that a 
lion had just killed one of the loose oxen. Nothing could be 
done that night, but at dawn Selous took the spoor in the 
wet ground, but lost it on the dry veldt. Next evening he 
made a shelter against a tree. 

" As the shooting-hole between the overhanging branches 
of the tree behind which I sat only allowed me to get a view 
directly over the carcase of the ox, I arranged another open- 
ing to the right, which gave me a good view up the waggon- 
road along which I thought the lion would most likely come, 
and I placed the muzzle of my rifle in this opening when I 
entered my shelter. As the night was so light, I thought it 
very likely that my vigil might be a long one ; for even if 
he did not wait until the moon had set, I never imagined 
that the lion would put in an appearance until after mid- 
night, when the camp would be quite quiet. Under this im- 
pression, I had just finished the arrangement of my blankets, 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 187 

placing some behind me and the rest beneath me, so as to 
make myself as comfortable as possible in so confined a space, 
and was just leaning back, and dreamily wondering whether 
I could keep awake all night, when, still as in a dream, I saw 
the form of a magnificent lion pass rapidly and noiselessly 
as a phantom of the night across the moonlight disc of the 
shooting-hole I had made to the right of the tree-stem. In 
another instant he had passed and was hidden by the tree, 
but a moment later his shaggy head again appeared before 
the opening formed by the diverging stems. Momentary as 
had been the glimpse I had of him as he passed the right- 
hand opening, I had marked him as a magnificent black- 
maned lion with neck and shoulders well covered with long 
shaggy hair. He now stood with his forelegs right against 
the breast of the dead ox, and, with his head held high, 
gazed fixedly towards my waggon and oxen, every one of 
which he could, of course, see very distinctly, as well as my 
boy John and the Kafirs beside him. I heard my horse 
snort, and knew he had seen the lion, but the oxen, although 
they must have seen him too, showed no sign of fear. The 
Kafirs were still laughing and talking noisily not fifty yards 
away, and, bold as he was, the lion must have felt a little 
anxious as he stood silently gazing in the direction from 
which he thought danger might be apprehended. 

" All this time, but without ever taking my eyes off the 
lion, I was noiselessly moving the muzzle of my little rifle 
from the right-hand-side opening to the space that com- 
manded a view of his head. This I was obliged to do very 
cautiously, for fear of touching a branch behind me and 
making a noise. I could see the black crest of mane between 
his ears move lightly in the wind, for he was so near that had 
I held my rifle by the small of the stock I could have touched 
him with the muzzle by holding it at arm's length. Once 
only he turned his head and looked round right into my eyes, 
but, of course, without seeing me, as I was in the dark, and, 
apparently, without taking the slightest alarm, as he again 
turned his head and stood looking at the waggon as before. 
I could only see his head, his shoulder being hidden by the 
right-hand stem of the tree, and I had made up my mind to 



i88 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

try and blow his brains out, thinking I was so near that I 
could not fail to do so, even without being able to see the 
sight of my rifle. I had just got the muzzle of my rifle into 
the fork of the tree, and was about to raise it quite leisurely, 
the lion having hitherto showed no signs of uneasiness. I 
was working as cautiously as possible, when without the 
slightest warning he suddenly gave a low grating growl, and 
turned round, his head disappearing instantly from view. 
With a jerk I pulled the muzzle of my rifle from the one 
opening and pushed it through the other just as the lion 
walked rapidly past in the direction from which he had 
come. He was not more than four or five yards from me, 
and I should certainly have given him a mortal wound had 
not my rifle missed fire at this most critical juncture, the 
hammer giving a loud click in the stillness of the night. At 
the sound the lion broke into a gallop, and was almost 
instantly out of sight." 

This was a tcn^iblo misfortune, but next morning Selous 
tracked the lion up a watercourse and soon found him. 

" John was looking about near the edge of this shallow 
water, and I had turned my horse's head to look along the 
bank higher up, when the unmistakable growl of a lion 
issued from the bushes beyond the rivulet, and at the same 
time John said, ' Daar hij ' (there he is). I was off my horse 
in an instant to be ready for a shot, when he turned round 
and trotted away, and John ran to try and catch him. I 
thought the luck was all against me, as I expected the lion 
would make off and get clean away ; but I ran forward, 
trying to get a sight of him when he suddenly made his 
appearance in the bush about fifty yards away, and catch- 
ing sight of me, came straight towards me at a rapid pace, 
holding his head low and growling savagely, I suppose he 
wanted to frighten me, but he could not have done a kinder 
thing. He came right on to the further bank of the little 
stream just where it formed a pool of water, and stood there 
amongst some rocks growling and whisking his tail about, 
and always keeping his eyes fixed upon me. Of course, he 
gave me a splendid shot, and in another instant I hit him, 
between the neck and the shoulder, in the side of his che.st. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 189 

with a 360-grain expanding bullet. As I pulled the trigger 
I felt pretty sure he was mine. With a loud roar he reared 
right up, and turning over sideways fell off the rock on 
which he had been standing into the pool of water below 
him. The water was over three feet deep, and for an instant 
he disappeared entirely from view, but the next instant 
regaining his feet stood on the bottom with his head and 
shoulders above the surface, I now came towards him, when 
again seeing me, he came plunging through the water 
towards me, growling angrily. But his strength was fast 
failing him, and I saw it was all he could do to reach the 
bank, so I did not fire, as I was anxious not to make holes 
in his skin. He just managed to get up the bank, when I 
finished him with a shot through the lungs, to which he 
instantly succumbed. "^ 

Selous has always been regarded by the British public as 
the first lion-hunter of all time. They would like to have 
seen him travelling round with a large circus and a band 
giving demonstrations of shooting lions from horseback 
a la Buffalo Bill, but nothing was further from his own ideas 
than such a showman's display. Being as truthful as he 
was modest, he always entirely disclaimed any great prowess 
as a lion-hunter and said what was true — that many men 
had killed a far greater number of lions than himself. It 
was only on particular occasions like the last adventure 
described that he went out of his way to shoot lions that 
had become troublesome and dangerous, but at all times he 
never declined a fight when he was lucky enough to meet 
lions, whether he was himself afoot or accompanied by dogs. 
If he had wished to make a great bag of lions, doubtless he 
could have done so ; but he never wished to pose as a lion- 
hunter like Jules Gerard and others, and so his total bag 
was modest. Actually, he himself shot thirty-one lions and 
assisted in the destruction of eleven others. Even his good 
friend, H. A. Bryden, usually so accurate in his statements, 
says : " He was easily the greatest lion-hunter of his time," 
and the general public, taking the cue from many writers, 
say a thing is so-and-so and the statement becomes standard- 

^ Badminton Library. " The Lion in S. Africa," p. 343, 



190 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

ized. But, after all, it is only a very few men who know the 
real facts of any case, and they often have a habit of holding 
their tongues. Doubtless, if Selous had enjoyed the oppor- 
tunities of the Brothers Hill, he would have been just as 
active and successful in destroying lions as they — if he had 
not been killed in the process. Selous, as a matter of fact, 
had no more genius for hunting than that enjoyed by many 
others. He was an admirable hunter, but just as unable to 
spoor a lion on dry veldt as other white men — ^that gift alone 
belonging to certain black races. The title, therefore, of 
being " the greatest lion-hunter " — even if we admit the 
desirability of using superlatives — seems to belong to the 
man or men who by perfectly fair means and taking risks — 
the same as Selous himself did — have shot the greatest 
number of lions. Wherefore, I give a few particulars. 

As Selous himself has said, probably the greatest lion- 
hunter within his experience of South Africa was Petrus 
Jacobs, who killed in his life — chiefly with the assistance of 
dogs — well over one hundred lions, and was himself badly 
mauled when he was over seventy-three years of age. 

Probably the greatest all-round hunter of African game 
now living is William Judd, now a professional hunter in 
British East Africa. In South and East Africa he has killed 
forty-eight lions and been in at the death of forty-three 
others. In giving me these particulars, he says : "I have 
never had any really narrow squeaks from lions with the 
exception of the time I was out with Selous on the Gwasin 
Guishu plateau " (see " Field," May 28th, 1910). It may be 
remarked that this immunity is due to the fact that he is a 
magnificent shot. He considers the Buffalo a far more 
dangerous opponent. A. B. Percival, Game Warden, is said 
to have shot fifty lions during his residence in British East 
Africa. 

In Somaliland, hunting almost exclusively for lions, 
Colonel Curtis in one season killed twenty-seven, and in the 
same time Colonel Paget and Lord Wolverton nearly as 
many. Captain Mellis also in one season accounted for 
twenty-one lions, and several other British sportsmen have 
killed twenty in one trip in that part of Africa. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 191 

What a man does and what he could actually do in the 
way of lion-killing is perhaps beside the question. A great 
lion-hunter like Sir Alfred Pease, both an admirable shot 
and a superb horseman, has only killed fourteen lions and 
joined in eleven " partnerships," but this in no way repre- 
sents the number of lions he could have killed had he wished 
to do so. Being of an unselfish disposition it was ever his 
pleasure, since he had killed all the specimens he wanted, 
to give his friends who were anxious to shoot lions every 
opportunity of doing so. In fact, on many occasions, at his 
farm on the Kapiti Plains, he himself " rounded up " the 
lions for other men to kill, and simply looked on — standing 
ready in case of trouble. " Lions were so plentiful at my 
place on the Athi," he writes, "that one party killed in one 
day (1911-12) fourteen lions. I have often spared a fine lion 
to give a guest a chance, and have never seen him again. 
The finest lion I ever saw was an enormous black-maned 
fellow. I prevented my son-in-law from firing at him, as I 
wished President Roosevelt to get him during his stay with 
me. Subsequently, I think a German got his skin; but in 
reality, I believe H. D. Hill killed him after a German party 
and the Brothers Hill had fought a great battle with him 
near Lukania." 

Sir Alfred then goes on to give particulars of the astound- 
ing performances of the Brothers Harold D. Hill and Clifford 
Hill, who if they wished it — which they probably do not — 
are justly entitled to the right of being called the first of 
modern lion-hunters. " Harold Hill managed my farm in 
British East Africa for several years. He told me a year ago 
that he had, since he had been there, 1906-15, on my farms 
of Theki and Katanga, and on his own and his brother's 
farms — Katelembo and Wami — killed himself one hundred 
and thirty-six lions. I think this figure will include a very 
great number of what I should call ' partnerships,' tor his 
brother Clifford must have killed as many or more than 
Harold, for he has done more actual hunting.^ Clifford Hill 

^ In a letter to me from East Africa, March 12th, 1918, Harold Hill 
states that he has been in at the death of 135 lions and that his brother 
Clifford has seen 160 Uons shot. In most cases, he admits, he and his 
brother generally allowed some friend to have his first shot. 



192 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

acted as professional hunter to many ' safaris,' but you 
could absolutely rely on any statement he made, although 
it is not likely that he believed, himself, in counting heads 
of game killed. I should not be surprised if these two 
brothers have not been in at the death of over three hundred 
lions during their residence in East Africa." 

" Some years ago Lord Delamere had, I think, killed 
between fifty and sixty lions. Many of these (over twenty) 
were killed in Somaliland. Some of these were * ridden,' 
and others may have been killed at night, but Delamere was, 
nevertheless, a keen and fearless hunter." 

Commenting on the different methods of hunting lions in 
Somaliland and British East Africa, Sir Alfred says : — 

" The Somaliland method of hunting (i.e. following a fresh 
spoor on hard ground till the lion was viewed) was, in my 
opinion, the best test of skill and sporting qualities, since 
you tracked and did the whole thing on your own initiative. 
Personally, I enjoyed most the B.E.A. work. You saw much 
more of the beasts, and I loved galloping and rounding them 
up for others to kill as much as I enjoyed anything in my 
whole life." 

Paul Rainey's methods of hunting lions with a large pack 
of hounds can hardly come into the true category of lion- 
hunting where risks are taken. The dogs, it is true, were 
often killed or wounded ; but as a friend who had taken 
part in these hunts remarked, " It was just like rat -hunting, 
and about as dangerous." It is true that one man, George 
Swart z (formerly a German waiter at the Norfolk Hotel, 
Nairobi), was killed in one of these hunts, but the accident 
was singular. Swaitz was a very bold fellow and moved 
close in in thick bush when the dogs had a lion at bay one 
day in the Kedong in 1912. The lion " broke bay," and 
either intentionally charged Swartz or ran over to him by 
chance as he worked the cinema-camera. The beast gave 
the man one bite in the stomach and then left him, but the 
unfortunate fellow died shortly afterwards of his wounds. 
Paul Rainey claims to have kUled over two hundred lions 
with his dogs. 

It has always been the custom amongst hunters that he 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 193 

who draws first blood from any animal — even if it is only a 
scratch — is entitled to the beast when subsequently killed. 
It is a good law on the whole, but there are many instances 
where it is scarcely justified — that is to say, when the first 
shooter has done little beyond slightly injuring the animal, 
if a dangerous one, and the second hunter has stood " all the 
racket," and killed the beast at the risk of his life. Here is 
such an example given to me by Sir Alfred Pease : — 

" I lent my rifle (a -256 Mannlichcr) to a friend, also my 
horse to gallop and ' round up ' a lion, whilst I kept watch 
on a bush where another had hidden, not being able — owing 
to dongas — to get round him. My friend soon jumped off 
and fired two or three shots at the first lion, which worked 
round and came and lay down under a thin thorn-bush less 
than a hundred yards from my position. I then went towards 
the bush and the lion charged me. I fired twice with a 
lo-bore gun at about sixty and fifteen yards, and the beast — 
a very fine black-maned lion — fell dead to my second barrel. 

" My friend now came up, and to my disgust said excitedly, 
' My lion ! ' I said, ' Mine, I think ? ' He said, ' No ; I had 
first blood ! ' I had no idea the lion had been hit, but when 
we examined him there was a -256 hole in his back ribs. I 
was rather sore, as I had stood the racket ; but it was the 
rule. I killed the second lion in a quarter of an hour. We 
did not quarrel, however, and he gave my daughter the skin 
of the first lion, which was nice of him." 

However, if he did kill a considerable but not a remarkable 
number of lions, Selous will always remain the greatest 
authority on the subject, for in his numerous writings he has 
given us accounts of sport and natural history in connection 
with this animal that are quite unequalled by any other 
writer. In all the descriptions and the accounts of its habits 
he accumulated a vast mass of material, mostly new and 
original — which is without a blemis.h, without a single in- 
correct statement. These writings by Selous, especially his 
admirable notes in " African Nature Notes and Reminis- 
cences," and the small monograph on "The Lion," by Sir 
Alfred Pease, constitute a complete record of the natural 
history and sport connected with this interesting animal. 
o 



194 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

To clever and broad-minded people in other lands it may 
be a wonder that so excellent a field naturalist as Selous was 
not granted a State allowance, to pursue his work as a 
pioneer and naturalist, so as to relieve him of the constant 
strain on his slender resources. We know that in France, 
Germany, Austria, Italy, America and Japan such a thing 
would have been done long ago ; but foreigners have no 
knowledge of our various Governments' neglect of science, 
or of the miserable pittances they allowed to the various 
scientific bodies for such a purpose in this country. Heaven 
alone knows what inventions, amounting in value to vast 
sums, have been literally driven out of England by this 
abominable stinginess, and sold to other countries, which in 
time became our deadliest enemies in trade and war. And 
so in turn our scientific societies, each and all of which con- 
sidered their own branch the most important, have pursued 
a policy of neglect and jealousy towards all young workers 
in whatever branch they showed exceptional originality. 

The officials of the British Museum are poorly paid, and 
they and the Zoological Society, having little or no money 
to expend on researches of importance in foreign lands, have 
to go and beg from the general public whenever any expedi- 
tion is being sent abroad. 

In America, where matters are worked on broad-minded 
principles, field zoology is now recognized as being as im- 
portant as purely scientific zoology, and ample funds are 
given to all genuine collectors outside the body corporate, 
and the advancement of general knowledge is all that is 
desired. The result is that more excellent work in this 
branch of science is being done to-day in New York and 
Washington than in all other countries. It is true they have 
ample funds for such purposes and these are generously dis- 
tributed ; but there are no jealous cliques there, and the 
spirit in which the work is done is wholly admirable. 

Perhaps the only scientific society that has received great 
monetary help is the Royal Geographical Society, and when 
Arctic or Antarctic expeditions are launched the public has 
always responded magnificently. I have often wondered 
why, for beyond the individual effort of bravery on the part 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 195 

of the gallant members of these expeditions, the scientific and 
material results of these expeditions are very small compared 
with those of one well-conducted expedition to Central Asia 
or Africa, which in time has often given considerable scientific 
results, as well as knowledge of new countries that have 
become the homes of white men. From the time of Denham 
and Clapperton to Selous what has ever been done for our 
African explorers ? Absolutely nothing. These grand men 
have taken quite as great risks as Arctic or Antarctic 
travellers, have explored thousands of square miles of new 
country and done it all out of their own pockets, often ruin- 
ing themselves in purse and health. An Antarctic expedi- 
tion costs the British nation anything from £30,000 to 
£50,000, and its leaders receive knighthoods, and other 
official distinctions, but we never heard Livingstone called 
anything but a wandering missionary, or Selous aught but a 
big game hunter ; nor has any Government taken the 
smallest notice of them. Yet these two men, by their 
courage, tact in dealing with natives, personal influence, 
skill in mapping and eventual advice to those in authority, 
did more, both for Science and the Empire, than all the 
expeditions to the wildernesses of perpetual snow and ice. 

It must not be supposed that Selous, had he wished, 
could not have obtained some of these material rewards 
which are valued by most men. He was not without in- 
fluential friends, both at home and in Africa, but his natural 
modesty forbade him to make use of them. One man above 
all others should have made it his duty to have helped him, 
but let us see how he acted. 

Cecil Rhodes was a big man — ^big in almost every way 
except in the matter of gratitude — and when he found that 
Selous was — to use an Americanism — such an "easy mark," 
he exploited him to the limit of his capacity. Rhodes knew 
that without Selous' immense local knowledge and tact with 
the native Mashuna chiefs his best -laid schemes might go 
astray, so he played on his patriotism, and promised him 
many things, not one of which he ever performed. 

Selous was, in fact, the whole Intelligence Department, 
and when he cut the road north with such rapidity it really 



ig6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

gave Lobengula no time to act until it was too late. So that 
the first expedition, which might easily have been a failure, 
turned out an unqualified success. 

" Let me introduce you to Mr. Selous," said Rhodes to a 
member of the Government at a big luncheon party in 1896, 
" the man above all others to whom we owe Rhodesia to the 
British Crown." These were fine words, and a fine acknow- 
ledgment of Selous' services. But what happened after- 
wards, and were Rhodes' promises to him kept ? When the 
Empire builder found his tool was of no further use, he 
absolutely ignored him, and could never find time even to 
see him. To his cynical mind gratitude simply did not exist. 
Selous was just one of the pawns in the game, and he could 
now go to the devil for all he cared. 

If others gained gold and titles out of the efforts of Selous 
and the Chartered Company, these mushroom successes 
strut their uneasy hour and are soon forgotten ; but Selous 
left behind him an imperishable name for all that was best 
in the new lands, which is well voiced in the words of 
Mr. A. R. Morkel, in a letter to the Selous Memorial 
Committee (1917) : — 

" The natives around my farm all remember him, though 
it is well over twenty-five years since he was last here ; and 
it is a pretty good testimony to his character, that wherever 
he travelled amongst natives, many of whom I have talked 
to about him, he was greatly respected and esteemed as a 
just man. We, settlers of Rhodesia, will always have this 
legacy from him, that he instilled into these natives a very 
good idea of British justice and fairness." 

We need express no surprise that the man who did the 
most hard work was left unrewarded, for such is life. It is 
on a par with the experience of a gallant officer in a Highland 
regiment M'ho, after nearly three years of intense warfare 
in the front line (1914-17), and still without a decoration of 
any kind, although twice wounded, came to Boulogne, 
where he met an old brother officer, who had been there in 
charge of stores for one and a half years, wearing the D.S.O. 
and M.C. ribbons. " I am not a cynical man," he remarked 
to me, " but I must say that for once in my life I felt so." 



CHAPTER IX 
1893-1896 

SELOUS had been hunting something all his life, yet 
he never seems to have lost sight of the possibility 
that a little fellow with a bow and arrow might one 
day take a shot at him. Perhaps in earlier days he feared 
him a little, but when, one January day in 1893, he went to 
Barrymore House, his mother's home at Wargrave, the 
small archer was there waiting in ambush and found a very 
willing victim. The immediate cause of the attack was the 
fact that Miss Gladys Maddy, a daughter of the Rev. Canon 
Maddy, was staying with Selous' mother. This was one of 
Selous' lucky days, for in a short time, since the attraction 
seems to have been mutual, he decided to try and win the 
lady as his wife. In this he was quite successful, and by the 
spring they were engaged. Meanwhile the hunter, being 
now well known to the public, had arranged to make a 
lecturing tour in the United States, under the auspices of 
Major Pond, and had hoped that this would be finished by 
late September, when he would be able to do a hunt in the 
Rockies afterwards. All arrangements had been completed 
and he had already taken his passage to America when the 
news of the Matabele rising arrived in England, He at 
once cancelled all his engagements and took the first steamer 
to South Africa. 

After the Pioneer expedition to Mashunaland in 1890 
had proved a success the country seemed in so quiet a state 
that the police force there was in 1891 disbanded. This 
was doubtless a great mistake. The Matabele were not the 
kind of people to take the position of a conquered race 
with equanimity. Their whole history showed them to be 
a virile fighting people who up till now had conquered all 

197 



198 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

native races in their vicinity, and believed themselves to 
be superior to the white, with whom they had not as yet 
been fairly tested in battle. This primal fact, and the gross 
mismanagement on the part of the Chartered Company 
(which Selous himself admits) of the cattle question, pro- 
duced a feeling of bitterness on the part of the Matabele,who, 
being above all things cattle-owners, and not slaves who had 
been conquered, resented the regulation exacting paid 
labour from every able-bodied man. The confiscation, too, 
of their cattle and the manner in which the confiscation 
was carried out added fuel to the fire. These circumstances, 
combined with the fact that the Matabele nation had not 
been beaten in war, were the causes for the outbreak in 
1893. The Matabele, in fact, were still too raw to appreciate 
the advantages (sic) of civilization. They did without 
them. The assegai and the raid were to them still the heart 
of life. From the time of Umsilikatzie till now their forays 
amongst their more or less defenceless neighbours had, 
comparatively speaking, been one continuous success, even 
the fairly powerful Bechuanas under Khama were in a 
constant state of dread. Within a few years they ravaged 
all the country up to the Zambesi, and even sent two ex- 
peditions right across the waterless Kalahari to attack the 
Batauwani of Lake Ngami. These were indeed bold enter- 
prises, as the marauders had to traverse nearly four hundred 
miles of desert almost devoid of game and only inhabited 
by a few bushmen. This first expedition, in 1883, was only 
partially successful, whilst the second one met with complete 
disaster. The Batauwani got wind of the impending attack 
and sent their women and children and cattle beyond the 
Botletlie river. They then ambushed the Matabele and 
killed many of them, whilst large numbers were drowned 
in trying to cross the river. Not a single head of cattle was 
captured, and hundreds of Lobengula's best warriors died 
from starvation, thirst, and exhaustion on the return journey, 
whilst only a remnant of the army got back to Bulawayo. 
One smaller party of Matabele went north by the Mababe 
river and eventually got back to Matabeleland by the 
northern route. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 199 

It was between 1883 and 1890 that the Matabele were 
most active in attacking their weaker neighbours. Some- 
times with diaboHc cunning they " nursed " the various 
Mashuna chiefs until the latter became rich in cattle and 
ivory and were ripe for slaughter. This they did to Chame- 
luga, a powerful sorcerer, whom Lobengula professed to 
esteem and even to fear, but this favouritism was, after all, 
only an assumed pose, for in 1883 an army was sent to 
destroy the Situngweesa, of whom Chameluga was chief. 
The chief was summoned to Bulawayo, but was met at 
the Tchangani river, and all his party slaughtered with the 
exception of a young wife named Bavea, who was taken 
prisoner, but afterwards escaped to the north. Before his 
death, however, Chameluga had just time to send a young 
son to warn his people, and they took flight into the hilly 
country between the Mazoe and Inyagui rivers, and only a 
few were destroyed by the raiding Matabele who had followed 
their spoor. In 1888 an impi raided the Barotsi and killed 
the chief Sikabenga and most of his tribe. 

In 1890 the Matabele also attacked and almost com- 
pletely destroyed the large Mashuna tribe whose ladies 
were so wonderfully tattooed, and which Selous described 
as seeing east of the Sabi on his visit there in 1885. Selous 
does not mention this in his book, although he must later 
have been well aware of the fact. 

In 1893 I found that all the plain and forest country 
here was swept clear of natives, but to the east of the Sabi 
there were villages of Gungunhlama's Shangans living on 
the tops of the kopjes, their little grass huts hanging to the 
sides of the cliffs like bunches of martins' nests. They 
told me that in 1890 a big impi of Matabele had annihi- 
lated the Mashunas that formerly lived there, and they 
themselves, even in their aerial fastnesses, lived in constant 
dread of attack. 

Although the Matabele had not moved during the advent 
of the Pioneer Expedition to Mashunaland in 1890, Loben- 
gula and his chiefs had been in a state of smouldering unrest 
since that time, and the best authorities considered that 
they intended to attack Bulawayo, Salisbury, and Victoria, 



200 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

where many of the settlers and some troops had taken 
refuge and gone into " laager " in the early part of 1893. 
All signs pointed to a conflict, and when I reached the 
Middle Drift of the Limpopo in May of that year, I was 
strongly advised by the police officer in charge, Sergeant 
Chauner (afterwards killed), to return to the Transvaal. As 
he had no orders to stop me, and as I found my Boer friend, 
Roelef van Staden, ready to go on, I went north across the 
Umsingwani and shot some koodoos in Lobengula's pet 
preserve. This led to trouble, as we were captured by 
twelve Matabele warriors, who came to our camp and 
insisted on our accompanying them to the king's kraal. Of 
course we knew what this meant in wartime. Perhaps we 
should be killed, and at the least it would involve a loss of 
my whole outfit. So we sent most of the Boers and all the 
women and children back to the Drift and vanished east- 
wards in the night with our horses and a light waggon. In 
the morning some Matabele came after us and shouted that 
they intended to kill us and all the English that year, but 
a few shots fired over their heads dispersed them. Baulked 
of their prey the brutes then returned and assassinated a 
dozen poor Makalaka Kafirs with whom we had encamped. 

After our departure to the hunting-ground to the east, 
only one Boer family, the Bezedenhuits, Mr. George Banks, 
Captain Donovan, and a Mr. Mitchell,^ of the 15th Hussars, 
got into Mashunaland from the Transvaal, as the Matabele 
soon made their unsuccessful attack on Victoria and com- 
munications with the north were stopped. We had various 
adventures, but passed safely through the Matabele without 
being detected on our return. Mr. George Banks went West 
and Captain Donovan struck North and joined the British 
forces, whilst Bezedenhuit went out through the Lower 
Drift after a small fight with the Matabele. 

In 1893 Selous returned to South Africa, went up country 
by the Bamangwato route, and joined the Chartered Com- 
pany forces there in September, From Fort Tuli he wrote 
on September 30th : — 

1 This unfortunate gentleman went to hunt liippopotami at the mouth 
of the Limpopo. Neither he nor any members of his outfit'^were ever 
heard of again and they may have been wiped out by the Matabele. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 201 

" I reached here last Sunday and met Dr. Jameson. 
News has just come in that the Matabele have attacked a 
patrol near Fort Victoria, and in a fortnight's time the 
Company's forces will be in a position to retaliate. At Dr. 
Jameson's request I have remained with the force here, 
which in case of necessity will co-operate with the Mashuna- 
land column and attack the Matabele simultaneously from 
the West, when they advance from the East. In the mean- 
time I am going on a small scouting expedition with two 
companions to examine the country along the western 
borders of Matabeleland." 

On this scouting trip he met with no adventures and he 
returned to Tuli on October nth. On October 19th he 
started northward with Colonel Goold Adams' column. On 
November 2nd his column met with its first opposition near 
Impandini's kraal, when the Matabele made an attack on 
some waggons coming into camp. " There was a bit of a 
fight," Selous wrote to his mother, " and the Matabele were 
driven off with considerable loss. I was unfortunate enough 
to get wounded. As I am in very good health, this wound 
is not at all dangerous, though, of course, it makes me 
very stiff and sore all down the right side, but I shall soon 
be all right again." Of the details of this day he wrote a 
more complete account to his future wife. 

" Owing to the miserable state of the oxen, a portion of 
the waggons did not get up to us on November ist, but were 
left behind at a distance of about three miles from our main 
column and the oxen sent on to the water. After drinking 
they were sent back at once, and early on the morning of 
November 2nd the waggons came on. Soon afterwards we 
heard heavy firing and knew that the convoy was attacked. 
As there were but few men with the convoy, assistance was 
urgently needed, we knew, and the alarm was at once 
sounded and the horses called in. I got hold of my horse 
long before the troop horses came in, and, saddHng him up, 
galloped back alone to help the fellows with the waggons. 
They were not far off, and were being attacked on all sides 
by the Matabele, who were keeping up a hot fire and closing 
in on both flanks and from the rear. Our fellows were 



202 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

sticking to it well, though in small numbers. My appear- 
ance, I think, checked the Matabele a little, as, seeing one 
horseman gallop up, they naturally thought more were at 
hand. However, as I was very near them, and firing away 
at them, they fired a lot of shots at me. The whistling of 
the bullets made my horse very restive, and presently one 
of them hit me. The wound, however, is not dangerous. 
The bullet struck me about three inches below the right 
breast, but luckily ran round my ribs and came out behind, 
about eight inches from where it entered. The Matabele 
came right up to our camp, some being shot within three 
hundred yards of the laager with the Maxim. They were 
then beaten off and a good many of them killed, and had 
it not been that they got into a lot of thickly wooded hills 
close behind our camp their loss would have been much 
heavier. Our loss was two white men killed, and three 
wounded, including myself, and of our native allies two 
killed and several wounded. Before I came up the Matabele 
had captured a waggon, which they burnt, and killed 
Corporal Mundy, who was in charge of it. Sergeant Adahm 
was killed and two other men wounded after the Matabele 
had been driven off from the camp and whilst they were 
fighting them in a hill. 

" Yesterday we pushed on and took up a splendid position 
here, where if we are attacked we shall be able to give a 
good account of ourselves," 

The campaign of 1893 against the Matabele was short 
and a complete success. A compact force, part of which 
had gone up through the Transvaal, and part from the 
north, and consisting of 670 white men, of whom 400 were 
mounted, moved up under the command of Dr. Jameson. 
It was under the guidance of Nyemyezi, a Matabele chief 
who was bitterly opposed to Lobengula, and the force 
travelled unmolested until they reached the Tchangani 
river, where they were attacked by some 5000 Matabele of 
the Imbezu and Ingubu regiments, who were heavily de- 
feated. On hearing this news Lobengula fled from Bulawayo 
and recalled his son-in-law, Gambo, from the Mangwe Pass, 
which gave opportunity to the southern column, under 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 203 

Colonel Goold Adams, to whom Selous was attached as 
Chief of the Scouts, to move up and join Dr. Jameson's 
column. When this southern force of Matabele heard of 
the disaster on the Tchangani to their picked regiments 
they retired to the Matoppo hills and surrendered without 
fighting. 

Meanwhile Lobengula continued to retreat north of the 
Tchangani, closely pursued by Major Wilson and his column, 
which, getting too far from his support, was surrounded and 
annihilated with his small force at the Tchangani river. 
Soon after this the powerful Matabele, forced into the track- 
less bush in the rainy season, and seeing their women and 
children dying of starvation and fever, surrendered in 
detail and accepted the liberal terms offered them. The 
whole campaign was settled by two battles, in which they 
attacked the white men in laager and suffered many reverses. 
The fighting spirit of the natives, however, was only scotched 
but not killed, as subsequent events showed. 

On November nth Selous gives some interesting details 
of the general progress of the campaign after the Matabele 
had attacked them and been driven north. " The Matabele 
generalship has been abominably bad. They never did what 
they ought to have done, and we took advantage of their 
opportunities. The strong British column from the East, 
advancing through open country, with a large force of 
mounted men and a large number of machine gu'^s, simply 
carried everything before it, and on the two occasions when 
they attacked the ' laager ' the machine guns simply mowed 
them down. No one, knowing their abominable history, can 
pity them or lament their downfall. They have been paid 
back in their own coin. 

" Our column advancing from the West had very great 
difficulties to contend with, as the whole country on that 
side is covered with thick bush and broken hills. Had the 
Matabele here made a determined opposition we could 
never have got through, and should probably have met 
with a disaster. But the large army opposed to us retired 
without fighting as soon as they heard that the King's 
forces had made an unsuccessful attack on the laager near 



204 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Bulawayo, and so we came in here (Bulawayo) without 
further trouble. 

" So the campaign is virtually over, and the fair-haired 
descendants of the northern pirates are in possession of 
the Great King's kraal, and the ' Calf of the Black Cow '^ has 
fled into the wilderness." 

Writing from Bulawayo, where he went into hospital, 
November 27th, 1893, he says : — 

" I am still here, but hope to get away now in a few 
days. My wound is getting on famously, and will be soon 
quite healed up. If I had not been in such good health it 
might have given a lot of trouble and taken a long time. 
These people (the Matabele) are thoroughly cowed and 
demoralized, and must be having a very bad time of it, as 
they are now living in the bush and must have very little 
to eat, and heavy rain is falling every day and night, which 
will not add to their comfort. The King has fled to the 
north, but his people seem to be dropping away from him, 
and I don't think he knows exactly what to do. Yesterday 
messengers came in here from him saying he was willing 
to submit, as he did not know what else to do and could 
go no further. If he surrenders he will, of course, be well 
treated, but removed from Matabeleland. His people 
evidently now wish to surrender and live under the govern- 
ment of white men, but there are such a lot of them that 
they will take up the whole country, and it would, I think, 
be much better if the King would go right away across the 
Zambesi and form a new kingdom for himself, just as his 
father fled from the Boers of the Transvaal and established 
himself in this country. If he would do that a large 
number of his people would go with him and the warlike 
element in this country would be removed, whereas, if 
they once come back, although they will be very humble at 
first, they may give trouble again later on." 

A very true prophecy. 

In December, 1893, Selous left Bulawayo, as he 
thought, for ever, having no intention to return to South 
Africa. 

^ Lobengula's native name. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 205 

He arrived home in England in February, 1894, and was 
married to Miss Marie Catherine Gladys Maddy, in her 
father's parish church at Down Hatherly, near Gloucester, 
on April 4th. Many old friends assembled at the Charing 
Cross Hotel to honour his marriage, and in a speech he 
said that his career as a Rugby boy had helped not only to 
support the fatigues which he had had to contend with, 
but to despise the strong boy who bullied the weak one 
and to admire the strong who guarded the weak. He 
thought that if any of those present should ever go to 
Matabeleland he would not hear anything that he had done 
but would become an Englishman as well as a Rugby boy. 
His Rugby friends subscribed together and gave him a 
handsome memento in the shape of a silver salver and ewer, 
and he was very proud of this gift. 

Selous and his wife then went abroad for the honeymoon, 
passing through Switzerland and Italy. After a very 
pleasant visit to Venice they journeyed to Budapest, and 
on to their friends the Danfords, at Hatzeg in Transylvania, 
where Selous did a little egg-collecting. After some time 
spent in the mountains they went on down the Danube U 
Odessa, and so to Constantinople, where they made the 
acquaintance of Sir William WhittaU, with whom Selous 
made plans to hunt in Asia Minor in the autumn of 1894. 
Selous and his wife then returned to England in July, and 
after his autumn trip to Smyrna, which is detailed later, 
he returned to Surrey and bought the land and arranged 
plans for renovating the house at Worplesdon which was 
afterwards his home. The original house was not large, but 
possessed a good area of land, flanked by a pretty and clear 
stream, and this plot was eventually made into a charming 
garden which Mrs. Selous has devoted care and energy to 
render beautiful and homeUke. In later years a good orchard 
was added. The house was greatly added to and improved 
in 1899. At the same time as the house was being built a 
museum was erected close by, and in this all Selous' treasures, 
brought from his mother's house at Wargrave, were stored. 
As time went on it was found to be too small for his rapidly 
increasing collection, so in later years another wing was 



2o6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

added, which made the whole building perhaps the largest 
private museum of its kind in Great Britain. 

It was in August, 1894, that Selous went north for his 
first experiences of Highland sport. His destination was 
the Island of Mull, where for a fortnight he enjoyed the 
chase of the seal, the otter, and the wild goat, on the estate 
of Loch Buie, at the invitation of the Maclaine of Lochbuie. 
He thus describes his first search for seals and otters : — 

" On August i6th, 1894, accompanied by the keepers 
MacColl and Nottman, I visited Loch Spelve in search of 
seals and otters. Skirting the shores of the loch in a small 
boat, we soon espied two seals lying out on a rock. They, 
however, winded us and slipped into the water, when we 
were still a long way off. We then went ashore and put the 
three terriers into a cairn which the keepers knew otters to 
be partial to, and from the behaviour of the dogs we soon 
became aware that one of the animals was somewhere about. 
Knowing that if the dogs succeeded in drawing the otter from 
the rocks it would make for the sea, I took up my position 
amongst the slippery seaweed covered with stones near the 
water and waited full of expectation. However, the otter 
resisted all the overtures of the terriers and would not bolt. 
Then MacColl, the wily, produced some evil-smelHng fuse 
and, setting light to it, pushed it into a hole amongst the 
stones. The effect was magical, for the otter bolted at once 
almost between MacCoU's legs. Instead, however, of 
coming towards the sea, it made back through the wood and 
took refuge in another cairn. From the second place of 
refuge another piece of fuse soon dislodged it, and this time 
making for the sea, it came past me in the open, travelling 
over the seaweed-covered rocks at no great pace. M}^ first 
barrel knocked it over, but it quickly recovered itself, only 
to be again knocked down by my second left-hand barrel. 
This time it lay dead, and proved to be a fine bitch otter in 
excellent coat, weighing 14I lbs. and measuring 3 ft. 6 ins. 
in length." 

In January, 1895, he again went to Loch Buie and shot 
his first woodcock and other Highland game, and in January, 
1897, he got his first pair of ptarmigan. It was in Ben Alder 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 207 

Forest that he killed his first Highland stags, but the chase 
of red deer as conducted in Scotland did not, as we should 
expect, greatly appeal to him. 

In September, 1894, Selous and his wife reached Bournabat 
near Smyrna, where he remained a short time as the guest 
of H. O. Whittall. From here, accompanied by his wife and 
the Whittalls, Selous made a short trip into the interior, 
with the intention of finding haunts of the wild goat {Capra 
aegagrus). After an interesting journey amongst the Turks 
and Yuruks he returned to the sea-coast, where in the Musa 
Dagh he did some hunting, but was unsuccessful in finding 
the old billies, only killing one male with small horns. On 
October 3rd he returned to Smyrna, and then went straight 
into the Ak Dagh to look for the long-faced red deer. These 
animals are now scarce and difficult to hunt in the dense 
forests, and he only succeeded in coming up to one good 
fourteen-pointer, which he killed with a long shot on October 
19th. 

He was, however, somewhat fascinated with this hunting 
in Asia Minor, for though the game was comparatively 
scarce and hunting difficult, owing to the rough nature of 
the ground and abundance of local hunters, yet it satisfied 
his idea of what is called " high-class sport." Selous never 
liked to admit failure with any animal, so at the end of 
January, 1895, he again made a trip to Asia Minor in the 
hope of getting good specimens of the wild goat and, if 
possible, the black mouflon {Ovis gmelini). This time he 
decided to hunt the Maimun Dagh, a great mass of moun- 
tains situated close to the Smyrna railway. For a fort- 
night he toiled up and down its steep and parched cliffs, 
and then at last he saw and got a shot at one of the patriarchs 
with long horns. This goat he wounded very badly and 
lost, but some days later a Turk saw a large goat fall from 
a cliff and remain suspended by its horns in a tree, where he 
despatched it. This was without doubt the fine male which 
Selous had lost, and he was lucky enough to obtain the head. 
A few days later he found another grand billy, alas with 
only one horn. This he also killed and lost, but found it 
the next day. Two other fair specimens made up his bag, 



2o8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

so on the whole the expedition was quite successful. Then 
he returned to England in February. 

Although so recently married, Selous found that living in 
England was too expensive, and this, combined with the 
" call of the wild," which never left him, evolved a new spirit 
of restlessness and desire once more to live in the open veldt 
and to see the game. To this was added the request of an 
old friend, Mr. Maurice Hcany, who asked him to go into 
Matabeleland and assist him in the management of a land 
and gold-mining company. After consulting his wife, who 
was willing to share the troubles and difficulties of the new 
country, Selous accepted the post, which was to occupy him 
for two years. 

Accordingly Selous and his wife left England in March, 
1895, and after spending two months in Cape Colony and 
the Free State, where he shot some springbuck, blesbuck, 
and black wildebeest for his collection, he took ship to 
Bcira and then went by rail to Chimoio, where he met his 
waggon and oxen, and passed on via Salisbury, the Hanyane 
river, to Bulawayo. At the Scbakwe river he fired at what 
he thought was a jackal, but on arriving near the animal, 
which he expected to find dead, as he had heard the bullet 
strike, he was suddenly charged by a leopard. The angry 
beast passed right under his stirrup-iron, and after going 
thirty yards stopped and sat on its haunches. Another 
shot at once killed it. 

The Selous now left for Essexvale, the farm of his company, 
and took up their quarters in a rough wood and mud two- 
roomed house which was to be their home until the wire- 
wove bungalow, which had been sent out from England in 
sections, should arrive and be erected. It was whilst 
travelling to Essexvale that Selous met his old friend, 
Mr. Helm, the missionary, who by his long residence 
amongst the Matabele was thoroughly conversant with 
native views. Mr. Helm said that on the whole the natives 
had accepted the new regime, but that they were highly 
incensed at the confiscation of their cattle by the Chartered 
Company. The natives at first were told that after all the 
cattle had been branded with the Company's mark and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 209 

handed back to the natives, only the king's cattle would be 
confiscated. " This promise," says Selous, " was made 
under the belief that nearly all the cattle in Matabeleland 
had belonged to the king and that the private owners had 
been but few in number." This was a great mistake, for 
nearly every chief induna and men of any position had 
possessed large herds of their own. 

At Bulawayo Selous found a ruined kraal, since it had 
been burnt and deserted by the Matabele after their defeat 
in 1893. The site of the new town had been marked out by 
the settlers, who had camped close by, and a general air 
of hope and prosperity hung over the scene of the new 
British town that was shortly to arise from the ashes of the 
past. No difficulties with the natives were apprehended, 
and farms and town-sites were at a high value. No one, in 
fact, dreamed that in a few months the whole country would 
be overwhelmed in the calamity of the rinderpest — a cattle 
disease that swept from Abyssinia to the Cape and killed 
in its course nearly the whole stock of cattle, as well as 
many fine species of game, such as buffalo, eland, koodoo, 
etc. Added to this the Matabele again rose, burnt the 
farms, and in many cases murdered all the new settlers and 
carried destruction throughout the whole country north of 
the Limpopo. To add to these horrors a bad drought and 
an unusual plague of locusts rendered farming and transport 
practically impossible. 

There were some 70,000 cattle at this time in the hands 
of the natives, and a final settlement was made by which 
the Chartered Company retained two-fifths, giving the 
remaining three-fifths to the natives, a settlement by which 
for the time being the natives appeared satisfied. 

All through the autumn and winter of 1895 life passed 
quietly at Essexvale. The new house arrived, and was 
erected just before the rains set in on a high position eighty 
feet above the Ingnaima river. The Company bought 1200 
head of cattle which were distributed amongst the natives. 
Five thousand gum-trees were raised from seed and planted 
on some forty acres of ploughed land, the other products 
including maize and fruit trees of various kinds. 



210 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

All this time the natives appeared to be happy and con- 
tented, whilst Umlugula, a relation of Lobengula, and a 
great chief under his rule, now living some eighteen miles 
away, constantly visited Selous and seemed as quiet as the 
rest, although he was actively plotting the rebellion which 
was shortly to break out. Selous afterwards thought that 
the cause of the insurrection was the withdrawal of the 
Matabeleland Police Force and their munitions of war, and 
its subsequent capture by the Boers in the ill-starred 
" Jameson Raid." 

The first cloud of trouble appeared in February, 1896, 
when news was spread that the " UmHmo," or god of the 
Makalakas, who lived in a cave in the Matoppo hills, had said 
that the white man's blood was about to be spilt. It was 
also rumoured that Lobengula was not dead, as previously 
reported, but was coming with a large army from the north- 
east and west. Umlimo also claimed to have sent the 
rinderpest which at this date had already reached Northern 
Matabeleland. 

So far, however, there were merely rumours, and old 
residents in the country, with the single exception of Mr. 
Usher, believed that nothing was to be feared. Mr. Jackson, 
a native commissioner, thought that if the natives rose a 
certain danger was to be expected from the Matabele Police, 
who had been armed with Winchesters and were kept for 
the purposes of law and order, and in this he was right, for 
half of this body revolted and attacked their former em- 
ployers. 

The " Umlimo " was a kind of native hereditary priest 
whose family are supposed to inherit supernatural powers. 
His family are known as the children of the god and all are 
supposed to commune with the unseen deity. He lived in 
the Matoppo Hills, where the people visited their " god " 
and consulted him. He was supposed to speak all languages, 
and could moreover roar like a lion, bark Uke a dog, and do 
other wonderful things. There seemed to have been other 
Umlimos in other tribes, and it is somewhat strange that 
this " deity " of the despised Makalakas should have been 
possessed of such influence over the powerful IMatabele. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 211 

Lobengula at any rate constantly visited and even feared 
this man, and there is no doubt that Lobengula and his 
chiefs made full use of him in the present instance to excite 
the natives. 

In the middle of March Selous was appointed to inspect 
the Umsingwani and Insiza district and try and stop the 
spread of the rinderpest to the south, and in this he was 
powerless, as trek-oxen further carried the infection. At 
Dawson's store on March 22nd he heard that a native 
policeman had been killed and that the murderers with their 
women and children had fled to the Matoppo hills. This 
was the first overt act of the rebellion. 

Immediately after this two attacks were made on the 
native police, and Selous found when he arrived home that 
some Matabele had borrowed axes from Mrs. Selous, and 
had left with them ostensibly to repair their cattle-kraals, 
but in realit3^ to attack the settlers. The following night 
three miners, Messrs. Foster, Eagleson and Anderson, 
carrying on work at Essexvale, were attacked and murdered 
as well as several other Europeans in the neighbourhood. 
Next day most of the Essexvale cattle were driven off by 
the natives, so that there was now no doubt that a rising 
was imminent. Selous therefore took his wife into Bulawayo 
for safety, and returned at once with an armed force of 
thirty-eight men, intending if possible to recover his cattle ; 
but by this time the flame of rebellion had spread to the 
whole of the north, and numerous white men, women and 
children had been brutally murdered. 

At least nine-tenths of the Matabele natives were now in 
arms against the whites, vv'ho were very badly equipped and 
in sore straits for arms, ammunition, cattle and horses. 
Their position was somewhat desperate, but, as ever before 
and since, the settlers nobly responded to the call to arms, 
although there was really no organized force worth speaking 
of. However, about five hundred good men and true 
assembled at Bulawayo, from which it was almost impossible 
to move owing to the absence of horses. This force only had 
some 580 rifles, but a good supply of ammunition — 1,500,000 
rounds. There was also a '303 Maxim and an old gun or 



212 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

two. This is all they had with which to resist some 10,000 
Matabele, of which at least one-fifth had breechloading rifles 
and plenty of ammunition. The tactics of the Matabele, 
however, were indifferent, and it is somewhat incomprehen- 
sible that they never blocked the main road to the south or 
attacked waggons or coaches moving along it. 

Of the 1000 white men in Bulawayo only about 300 were 
available for active operations, as 400 had always to be kept 
for the defence of the women and children in the town : but 
in addition to this force a regiment of native boys, mostly 
Zulus, was organized by Colonel Johan Colenbrander, ^ and 
did excellent scouting work. This little force of white and 
black eventually drove the Matabele from the neighbour- 
hood of Bulawayo and rescued many small isolated detach- 
ments, whilst keeping the enemy at bay until the arrival of 
Sir Frederick Carrington, who eventually completed their 
rout. 

But to return to the movements of Sclous after he re- 
visited his farm. He was not long in finding part of his 
stolen cattle and burning the kraal where they were found. 
Then he searched for the rebels and found them in the act 

1 Col. Johan Colenbrander, as his name imphes, was of Dutch origin. 
He was born at Pinetown, Natal, in 1859. At the age of twenty he was a 
skilled shot and hunter, and kept a general store in Swaziland close to the 
King's kraal. His first wife Maria was then the only white woman in 
Swaziland. She was a beautiful woman, one of the daughters of Mr. John 
Mullins, of Natal, and was an expert nder and rifle-shot. Colenbrander 
was a born hunter and fighter and took part in all the recent wars in 
South Afiica. He was also an excellent linguist, speaking fluently several 
native dialects. He served with distinction in the Zulu War, and in 1889 
and again in i8go accompanied the Matabele envoys to England as guide 
and interpreter. From 1895 he held several positions under the Chartered 
Company. In 1893 he remained with Lobcngula as peace envoy when 
the Pioneers entered Mashunaland. In 1896 he organized and officered 
" Colcnbrander's Boys," and in the second Boer War in 1901 he took 
command of Kitchener's Fighting Scouts and rendered good service, 
being mentioned in despatches and receiving the C.B. His second wife 
was Yvonne, daughter of Captain Loftus Nunn, and she died after two 
years of marriage, whilst his third wife Kathleen, daughter of Mr. James 
Gloster, survives him. Colenbrander all his life liked to go where sport, 
life, war and adventure called, and was ever a loyal friend to Britain. 
As a hunter Selous reckoned him as one of the most experienced in South 
Africa. He was unfortunately drowned in Feb., 1918, whilst taking part 
in a cinema performance representing the Zulu War. As he was crossing 
the Klip river his horse became restive, and he threw himself oft" and 
tried to swim to the bank ; wlien on the point of being rescued he threw 
up his arms and sank. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 213 

of driving off more cattle. These he attacked and recovered 
some 150 cattle belonging to Colenbrander. Selous then 
returned to Essexvale on March 26th, and left the herd of 
cattle there in charge of loyal natives because he feared they 
would be attacked by rinderpest if he drove them into 
Bulawayo. This, however, may have been a mistake, since 
Inxnozan, a native Matabele warrior, and some three 
hundred of his men came in a few days and burnt the farm 
and carried off all the cattle. 

Selous then took his men to Spiro's Store in the Matoppo 
hills in the hope of finding or rendering assistance to Mr. 
Jackson, the native commissioner, who was reported to 
have been murdered with the whole force of native police. 
He was now entering the Matabele stronghold, where large 
forces of the enemy were likely to be encountered. He put 
his best men out to scout ahead. In a gorge in the hills the 
enemy were found in some force, and Selous' men drove 
them off after some sharp fighting. Selous himself was fired 
at at a distance of fifteen yards, but fortunately the shot 
missed. Cattle to the number of one hundred were found, 
and Selous endeavoured to drive them, but the enemy again 
attacked, when four horses were killed and two men 
wounded. After this small fight he returned to Bulawayo, 
where he was delighted to find his friend Mr. Jackson, who 
had been given up for dead. Soon afterwards Selous went 
on patrol and visited the Mangwe laager, and on the way 
saw much of the ravages of the rinderpest. At one spot at 
a farm near Bulawayo " acres of carcasses were lying 
festering in the sun." 

Various patrols, under Colonel the Hon. Maurice Gifford, 
Captain Brand, Captain Van Niekerk, Captain Grey and 
others all had sharp fighting with the Matabele, and reHeved 
many isolated bodies of white men. 

In April Selous was appointed Captain of the " H" troop 
of the Bulawayo Field Force, and went out to clear the road 
and establish forts at Fig Tree and Mangwe. First he 
erected a very strong little fort called Fort Molyneux. 
Further on, at Fort Halstead, he made another, and at the 
Matoli river a third. All this he did with the Matabele army 



214 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

lying on the Khami river, about twelve miles west of Bula- 
wayo, whilst another large army was in the Elibaini hills 
close by. Yet they did not attack Selous' patrols or fort 
builders, and did not approach Bulawayo until the middle 
of April, when a small fight occurred between the scouts 
under Grey and Van Niekerk and a large body of the enemy. 
The scouts then returned. Shortly after this Selous joined 
in patrols with Captain Macfarlane and Captain Bisset in 
trying to dislodge the enemy from positions close to the 
town, and in the last-named attack on the Umguza the 
Matabele lost heavily. During this fight, and whilst firing 
hard, Selous' pony ran away and he was soon surrounded by 
large numbers of Matabele. 

The incident is best related in his own words : — ^ 
" A few bullets were again beginning to ping past us, so 
I did not want to lose any time, but before I could take my 
pony by the bridle he suddenly threw up his head and 
spinning round trotted off, luckily in the direction from 
which we had come. Being so very steady a pony, I imagine 
that a bullet must have grazed him and startled him into 
playing me this sorry trick at such a very inconvenient 
moment. ' Come on as hard as you can, and I'll catch your 
horse and bring him back to you,' said Windley, and started 
off after the faithless steed. But the steed would not allow 
himself to be caught, and when his pursuer approached him 
broke from a trot into a gallop, and finally showed a clean 
pair of heels. 

" When my pony went off with Windley after him, 
leaving me, comparatively speaking, planie Id, the Kafirs 
thought they had got me, and commenced to shout out 
encouragingly to one another and also to make a kind of 
hissing noise, like the word " jee " long drawn out. All this 
time I was running as hard as I could after Windley and my 
runaway horse. As I ran, carrying my rifle at the trail, I 
felt in my bandolier with my left hand to see how many 
cartridges were still at my disposal, and found that I had 
fired away all but two of the thirty I had come out with, one 
being left in the belt and the other in my rifle. Glancing 

^ " Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia," pp. 1 61-163, pubUshed by 
Rowland Ward and Co. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 215 

round, I saw that the foremost Kafirs were gaining on me 
fast, though had this incident occurred in 1876 instead of 
1896, with the start I had got I would have run away from 
any of them. 

" Windley, after galloping some distance, reahzed that it 
was useless wasting any more time trying to catch my 
horse, and like a good fellow came back to help me ; and 
had he not done so, let me here say that the present history 
would never have been written, for nothing could possibly 
have saved me from being overtaken, surrounded, and 
killed. When Windley came up to me he said, ' Get up 
behind me ; there's no time to lose,' and pulled his foot out 
of the left stirrup for me to mount. Without any unneces- 
sary loss of time, I caught hold of the pommel of the saddle, 
and got my foot into the iron, but it seemed to me that my 
weight might pull Windley and the saddle right round ; as a 
glance over my shoulder showed me that the foremost 
Kafirs were now within a hundred yards of us, I hastily 
pulled my foot out of the stirrup again, and shifting my 
rifle to the left hand caught hold of the thong round the 
horse's neck with my right, and told Windley to let him go. 
He was a big, strong animal, and as, by keeping my arm 
well bent, I held my body close to him, he got me along at 
a good pace, and we began to gain on the Kafirs. They now 
commenced to shoot, but being more or less blown by hard 
running, they shot very badly, though they put the bullets 
all about us. Two struck just by my foot, and one knocked 
the heel of Windley's boot off. If they could have only hit 
the horse, they would have got both of us. 

" After having gained a little on our pursuers, Windley, 
thinking I must have been getting done up, asked me to 
try again to mount behind him ; no very easy matter when 
you have a big horse to get on to, and are holding a rifle in 
your right hand. However, with a desperate effort I got 
up behind him ; but the horse, being unaccustomed to such 
a proceeding, immediately commenced to buck, and in 
spite of spurring would not go forwards, and the Kafirs, 
seeing our predicament, raised a yell and came on again 
with renewed ardour. 



2i6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" Seeing that if I stuck on the horse behind Windley we 
should both of us very soon lose our lives, I flung myself off 
in the middle of a buck, and landed right on the back of my 
neck and shoulders. Luckily I was not stunned or in any 
way hurt, and was on my legs and ready to run again, with 
my hand on the thong round the horse's neck in a very 
creditably short space of time. My hat had fallen off, but 
I never let go of my rifle, and as I didn't think it quite the 
best time to be looking for a hat, I left it, all adorned with 
the colours of my troop as it was, to be picked up by the 
enemy, by whom it has no doubt been preserved as a 
souvenir of my presence among them. 

" And now another spurt brought us almost up to John 
Grootboom and the five or six colonial boys who were with 
him, and I called to John to halt the men and check the 
Matabele who were pursuing us, by firing a volley past us 
at them. This they did, and it at once had the desired 
effect, the Kafirs who were nearest to us hanging back and 
waiting for those behind to join them. In the meantime 
Windley and I joined John Grootboom' s party, and old 
John at once gave me his horse, which, as I was very much 
exhausted and out of breath, I was very glad to get. Indeed, 
I was so tired by the hardest run I had ever had since my 
old elephant-hunting days, that it was quite an effort to 
mount. I was now safe, except that a few bullets were 
buzzing about, for soon after getting up to John Grootboom 
we joined the main body of the colonial boys, and then, 
keeping the Matabele at bay, retired slowly towards the 
position defended by the Maxim. Our enemies, who had 
been so narrowly baulked of their expected prey, followed 
us to the top of a rise, well within range of the guns, but 
disappeared immediately a few sighting shots were fired at 
them. 

" Thus ended a very disagreeable little experience, which 
but for the cool courage of Captain Windley would have 
undoubtedly ended fatally to myself. Like many brave 
men. Captain Windley is so modest that I should probably 
offend him were I to say very much about him ; but at any 
rate I shall never forget the service he did me at the risk of 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 217 

his own life that day on the Umguza, whilst the personal 
gallantry he has always shown throughout the present 
campaign as a leader of our native allies has earned for him 
such respect and admiration that they have nicknamed him 
' Inkunzi ' (the bull), the symbol of strength and courage." 

After this exciting incident, Selous, having lost his horse, 
managed to get another, and assisted Captain Mainwaring 
in repairing the telegraph wires to Fig Tree Fort, which had 
been cut. He then rejoined his troop, which arrived from 
Matoli. On the way they found the bodies of two transport 
riders killed by followers of Babian and Umsheti.^ 

Selous then built Fort Marquand on the top of a kopje, 
which commanded the road and a splendid view of the 
surrounding country. After a brief visit to Bulawayo he 
again went north to build a fort at the Khami river, and 
afterwards visited Marzwe's kraal, which had been attacked 
by an impi. 

On his return to Bulawayo he found the large column 
commanded by Col. Napier despatched to the Tchangani 
river to meet the column coming from Salisbury under 
Colonel Beal, with which was Cecil Rhodes. This column, 
the largest sent out from Bulawayo, inflicted severe punish- 
ment on the Matabele. On May 20th the Salisbury column 
was met, and after considerable fighting the whole force 
returned to Bulawayo, having suffered but small loss. On 
the way a number of the mutilated corpses of white men 
and women were found and buried. The history of these 
murders Selous relates in his book on the campaign, ^ 

Shortly before the arrival of the Field Force and Salisbury 
Column, Colonel (now Sir Herbert) Plumer had arrived with 
a strong body of troops from the south, and the back of the 
rebellion was broken, for this gallant officer attacked the 
enemy and drove them from the neighbourhood of Bula- 
wayo, whilst in June General Sir Frederick Carrington, who 
had now taken over the supreme command, cleared the 
districts surrounding the Matoppo hills, and then to the 
north and east, the rebels retreating as the patrols advanced. 

^ Lobengula's Prime Minister, whom I met in 1893 and whose portrait 
I executed for the " Daily Graphic " in that year. 
^ " Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia." 



2i8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

On June 7th Selous proceeded with Colonel Spreckley's 
patrol to Shiloh, where but little resistance was encountered, 
and on the 4th of July the campaign may be considered at 
an end, when the Bulawayo Field Force was disbanded. 
Thus ended one of the many little native wars in which 
British colonists, nobly assisted by Boer contingents, over- 
came under great difficulties a strong and well-armed 
nation of savages, who, if they had been properly organized, 
might easily have overwhelmed our small forces. The 
Matabele, the last strong savage power in South Africa, 
were beaten by good " morale " and tenacity on the part 
of the whites, who were incensed at the brutal savagery 
displayed by their enemies, for if they had not fought for 
their lives not only they but all their wives and children 
would have been murdered. Mr. Labouchere's choice 
phrase, " that the natives are being shot down like game at 
a battue, with apparently as little danger to the shooters as 
to those killing hares and rabbits," was as great a travesty 
of the case as it was mendacious. 

Selous, at any rate in i8g6, was a lirm believer in the 
future of what is now called Southern Rhodesia, and at that 
date wrote : " It is known throughout South Africa that 
Matabeleland and Mashunaland are white men's countries, 
where Europeans can live and thrive and rear strong 
healthy children ; that they are magnificent countries for 
stock-breeding, and that many portions of them wiU prove 
suitable for Merino sheep and Angora goats ; whilst agricul- 
ture and fruit-growing can be carried on successfully almost 
everywhere in a small way, and in certain districts, especially 
in Mashunaland and Manica, where there is a greater 
abundance of water on a fairly extensive scale. 

" As for the gold, there is every reason to believe that out 
of the enormous number of reefs which are considered by 
their owners to be payable properties, some small proportion 
at least will turn up trumps, and, should this proportion 
only amount to two per cent, that will be quite sufficient to 
ensure a big output of gold in the near future, which will in 
its turn ensure the prosperity of the whole country." 

He moreover predicted that when the railway reached 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 219 

Bulawayo success would be assured, but that this success 
would be destroyed if the British South Africa Company's 
Charter was revoked and the affairs of the colony adminis- 
tered by Imperial rule. Whether these hopeful views, honest 
as they are, have been fulfilled, still remains to be seen. 

Shortly after the British occupation of Mashunaland the 
Chartered Company made an immense effort to " boom " 
the country and induce settlers and investors to become 
interested in it. The papers were filled with accounts of 
the " New Eldorado," whose gold mines were to rival the 
Rand, and whose lands were to teem with flocks and herds 
of sheep and cattle on a scale that would make Canada and 
other parts of South Africa look quite small. The effect 
was to drive up the Chartered £1 Shares to over £7, and to 
create some apprehension in the minds of the few old South 
Africans who really knew the assets of what is, as a matter 
of fact, a country of only average possibilities. Its success- 
ful gold mines have, after years of test, proved only of 
moderate wealth, and these are only few in number, whilst 
the farming industry that was to have supplied the wants 
of all the local population as well as great quantities of 
cattle for export, has not yet proved a great success. In 
fact, after twenty years, the gallant Rhodesian farmers are 
still living on hope. There are too many adverse features 
against the man who farms stock in Rhodesia, even if he 
possesses capital, whilst the settler without money has no 
earthly chance to make good. Through all these years every 
effort has been made by the Chartered Company to induce 
the right kind of settler to go there, but on the whole their 
efforts have not met with any great success, or, after all 
this time, we should not read the usual note of hope in the 
" Times " report of the " Mashunaland Agency," November 
17th, 1917 :— 

" Test shipments of frozen meat have already been made 
from Rhodesia to England, and the results were favourably 
reported on by experts. It would seem, in short, that South 
Africa and Rhodesia may well become successful competitors 
in the meat supplies of the world, and this Company has 
already secured an early start in this development of an 



220 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

important industry. We have recently added sheep- 
breeding to our ranching operations, although at present 
on a small scale only." 

The high rate of freight and expense of transport from an 
isolated region like Rhodesia will be the great difficulty in 
the future, even if they can raise the stock, and the country 
will have to compete with Canada, New Zealand, and 
South America, all countries which have now good, cheap, 
well-organized methods of transport and shipment. It 
must not be supposed that Rhodesia has suffered altogether 
from a lack of the right kind of settlers. On the contrary, 
the most cheerful, industrious type of gentleman-farmer 
has tried to " make good " there and when backed by 
capital has just managed, after years of toil, to make both 
ends meet. If the reader wishes to know the absolute 
truth about conditions of life there let him ask some of the 
old settlers who are independent in opinion and have no 
land to sell, and let him read the novels of Gertrude Page 
and Cynthia Stockley, and he will glean a far more accurate 
picture of life in Southern Rhodesia than from any company 
reports or blue books. Romance is often truth, whilst 
complete distortion may lie in official dreams. 

The British South African Company is ever active in 
trying to get the right kind of settlers in Southern Rhodesia 
and we have no fault to find with them for that if they 
were to put them in healthy, fertile areas, but what are the 
actual prospects of success there compared with other British 
colonies. They too have a post-war land-scheme of offering 
ex-soldiers a free land-grant of 500,000 acres. It sounds 
generous, but if it is to grant free blocks of land (in Scotland) 
of the class offered to ex-soldiers without capital by the 
Duke of Sutherland, I feel very sorry for the poor soldiers. 
All the land of any value in South Rhodesia is already taken 
up by settlers, whilst a great part of the country is totally 
unfit for " white man " colonization. 

The following is written by a lady now resident as a 
farmer's wife in South Rhodesia, and gives accurately the 
various pros and cons and the prospect of success to-day in 
that colony. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 221 

" Do not resign your position as any kind of brass hat to 
come out here, if making money is your aim and object. 
Even our wealthiest farmers are not on the way to being 
plutocrats. After all, we are 6000 miles from our best market. 
But should fate or fortune land you here, you who love the 
sky and the open road, and the starry solitudes of an African 
night, the clear-cut outline of granite hills against a sapphire 
sky and the fragrance of a flower- jewelled veld, the whirr of 
startled birds and the crash of game as it bounds through 
the bush, I think you would find it difficult to return to the 
troglodyte life of London. — Ethel Colquhoun Jollie." 
(" The Field," April 6th, 1918.) 

When the boom in " Things Rhodesian " was at its 
height, some truth of the real state of affairs seemed to have 
reached British investors. Henry Labouchere doubtless 
got hold of a good deal of perfectly correct information and 
much that was decidedly otherwise. With his characteristic 
audacity in exposing all shams he, in a series of articles in 
" Truth," ruthlessly attacked the Chartered Company and 
all exploiters and " boomers " of the new territory. Much 
of what he wrote was the truth, but with it all, most of his 
criticisms were too scathing and hopelessly inaccurate. 
Amongst those classed as rascals who came under the lash 
of his pen was Fred Selous, a man who knew no more about 
business than a child, and who was not associated in the 
smallest degree with any financier, and who had never 
written one word about the country he was not prepared to 
substantiate. To those who knew Selous and his perfect 
immunity from all stock -dealing transactions the whole 
thing was simply ridiculous, but the Great Public, after all, 
is too often prone to believe any libel if it is constantly 
repeated. In consequence Selous was much depressed by 
these attacks and resented them bitterly, for he knew he 
was wholly innocent, yet being advised that he would not 
advance his position by replying in the newspapers he 
resolved to bide his time and reply to them in toto in a work 
he had under preparation (" Sunshine and Storm in Rhod- 
esia "). 

Mr. Burlace (of Rowland Ward, Ltd., who had bought the 



222 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

rights of his new book) met Selous at Plymouth on his 
arrival in 1896, and fortunately persuaded him not to 
mention controversial matters to the numerous pressmen 
who were there and wished to hear what he had to say 
concerning Mr. Labouchere's articles. Selous was, however, 
still anxious to thresh out the whole matter in his book, 
but Mr. Burlace, who has very considerable business know- 
ledge and a firm conviction that the public do not care two 
straws about controversial matters after the subject is, so to 
speak, " dead," gave him good advice to avoid the dis- 
cussion as far as possible and to let the public learn by a 
man's own character, past and future, who speaks the 
truth. That was sound logic, and Selous profited thereby, 
although he did answer many of Labouchere's gross libels 
on the Bulawayo Field Force. 

In many ways Rowland Ward and the members of his 
staff were good friends to Selous for a considerable part of 
his life. They bought his specimens at a good price, looked 
after his affairs at home before he married, and helped him 
in a hundred ways. Rowland Ward purchased the rights 
of Selous' new book, " Travel and Adventure in South-East 
Africa," and gave the author a good sum of money for his 
work. If " A Hunter's Wanderings " made Selous known to 
the public, " Travel and Adventures in South-East Africa " 
assured his reputation, made money for him when he badly 
wanted it, and fixed a definite value to his future books and 
the numerous contributions he made to scientific and sporting 
literature. " Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia," published 
by Rowland Ward and Co., was also a success and gave the 
public a clear and truthful account of the second Matabele 
war and did much to enhance the author's reputation. 
This book he dedicated to his wife " who, during the last 
few months, has at once been my greatest anxiety and my 
greatest comfort." 

It had long been one of Selous' ambitions to add to his 
collection the heads of that rare and beautiful antelope, the 
Nyala, or Angas's bushbuck, Tragelaphus angasi, whose 
habitat was the dense bush stretching along the coast from 
St. Lucia Bay, Zululand, to the Sabi river in Portuguese 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 223 

territory, east of Mashunaland. It has also more recently 
been found in Nyassaland. Wherefore, as soon as he left 
Matabeleland and reached Kimberley, he left his wife and 
went to Delagoa Bay, intending to hunt this animal for a 
short time in the dense thickets which border the Pongolo 
and Usutu rivers in Amatongaland. Only three Englishmen 
previously had had personal acquaintance with this some- 
what rare antelope, namely, Angas who discovered it, 
Baldwin in 1854, and Drummond, 1867-1872, all of whom 
wrote of its great beauty, cunning nature, and the pesti- 
lential climate in which it lived. 

In Delagoa Bay Selous was fortunate enough to meet a 
certain colonist named Wissels, who owned a small trading 
station near the junction of the Pongolo and Usutu rivers, 
right in the heart of the habitat of the Nyala. Wissels was 
returning home next day in his sea-going boat and Selous 
made some swift preparations and accompanied him. In 
two days he reached the Maputa and proceeded overland, 
with three women carriers, to Wissels' station, where he 
found numerous freshly captured skins and horns of the 
animal he had come to hunt. For the next few days, in 
pouring rain, he crept through the bush with native hunters, 
and was fortunate enough to bag three fine male and two 
female Nyala, a pair of which are now in the Natural History 
Museum in London ; the heads of the two other males are 
in the collection at Worplesdon. He was somewhat dis- 
appointed not to shoot the rare little Livingstone's Suni, 
one of which he saw, as it was one of the few rare antelopes 
he did not possess. After a long tramp of eighty miles 
through deep sand he reached Delagoa Bay on October 7th, 
and then returned to Kimberley, and so to England, not, 
however, completely escaping the inevitable attacks of 
fever which are the lot of all who hunt the Nyala in the 
feverish swamps and thickets of the East Coast. 



CHAPTER X 

1896-1907 

A S soon as Selous and his wife returned home at the 
/ \ end of 1896 he finished off the notes he had made 
jL \. concerning the second Matabele War, and deHvered 
them to Rowland Ward & Co., wlio pubhshed his book, 
" Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia," shortly afterwards. 
From this time forward he did a considerable amount of 
literary work, which, being in demand, gave him sufficient 
money to satisfy many of his more pressing wants at home, 
as well as supplying funds for the numerous short trips he 
now made every year. Owing in a large measure to the 
kindly help and advice given to him by a South African 
friend, his finances were now put on a sound basis, and he 
was able to look forward to being able to live at home in 
comfort without being denied those short periods of wander- 
ing which to him were part of his existence. Of course there 
were always ups and downs due to market fluctuations, 
and when things went wrong for a while he would have fits 
of depression that he would be unable to hunt any more ; 
but these always passed away sooner or later when the 
clouds lifted and some new piece of work commanded a good 
price. There is little doubt that a man enjoys best that for 
which he has worked. All Selous' later hunts were the out- 
come of his industry with the pen, and in some measure from 
lectures, so he experienced some joy in the working, for it 
meant to him the camp fire and the open road. 

In reading of his almost continuous wanderings after this 
date it must not be supposed that he was not happy in his 
home life. As a matter of fact no man considered himself 
more blessed by fortune in the possession of wife and 
children, and every fresh expedition, when he felt impelled 

224 




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THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 225 

as it were to go to the wilds, was fraught with misgivings 
and anxieties for his loved ones at home. It was always a 
wrench when the time came. He wrote once to Roosevelt 
on this point, and received the following sympathetic 
answer : — 

"... After all, there is nothing that in any way comes 
up to home and wife and children, in spite of the penalty 
one has to pay for having given hostages to fortune. I know 
just exactly how you feel about the ' two hearts.' Having 
a wife and six children, of whom I am very fond, I have 
found it more and more difficult to get away ; for the last 
eight years, indeed, my hunting trips have merely been 
short outings. I am of course very much interested in my 
work here ; but I cannot say how I long at times for the 
great rolling prairies of sun-dried yellow grass, where the 
antelopes stand at gaze, or wheel and circle ; for the 
splintered cottonwoods on the bank of some shrunken river, 
with the wagon drawn up under them, and the ponies feeding 
round about ; for the great pine forests, where the bull elk 
challenge, and the pack-train threads its way through the 
fallen timber. I long also for the other wilderness which I 
have never seen, and never shall see, excepting througli 
your books, and the books of two or three men like you who 
are now dead. It may be that some time I can break away 
from this sedentary life for a hunt somewhere ; and of all 
things possible to me, I should like to take this hunt among 
the big bears of Alaska, and try to work out their specific 
relationship. But I don't know whether I shall ever get tl e 
chance ; and of course this sedentary life gradually does 
away with one's powers ; though I can walk and shoot a 
little yet. Politics is a rather engrossing pursuit, and, un- 
fortunately, with us it is acute in the Fall, at the very time 
of the best hunting ; and as my children grow older I am 
more and more concerned with giving them a proper training 
for their life-work, whatever it may be. I don't yet accept 
the fact that I shall never get the chance to take some big 
hunt again, and perhaps it may come so I shall be able to ; 
and meanwhile I do revel in all the books about big game, 
and when I can get out to my ranch even for ten days, I 
Q 



226 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

enjoy it to the last point, taking an old cow-pony and 
shambling off across the grassy flats for a few days' camping, 
and the chance of an occasional prong-buck, 

" I am glad you like to chat with me even by letter. Ever 
since reading your first book I have always wanted to meet 
you. I hope I may have better luck next year than I had 
this. You will of course let me know if you think I can be 
of any help to you in your Canadian trip. 

" The Colonel X. whom I wrote to you about is, I am 
quite sure, what we should term a fake, although I also have 
no doubt that he has actually done a good deal of big game 
hunting ; but I am certain that, together with his real 
experiences, he puts in some that are all nonsense. Did you 
ever read the writings of a man named Leveson, who called 
himself ' the Old Shikari ' ? He was undoubtedly a great 
hunter ; yet when he wrote about American big game, I 
know that he stretched the long bow, and I am very sure he 
did the same about African big game. He everywhere en- 
countered precisely those adventures which boys' books 
teach us to expect. Thus as soon as he got to Africa, he 
witnessed a vicious encounter between black rhinoceroses 
and elephants, which would have done credit to Mayne Reid ; 
exactly as Colonel X. relates the story of a fearful prize-fight, 
in which a captive English Major slays a gorilla, against 
which he is pitted by a cannibal king — dates, names and 
places being left vacant. 

" What do you know of that South African hunter and 
writer named Drummond ? He wrote very interestingly, 
and gave most vivid descriptions of hunting -camps, of the 
African scenery, and of adventures with lions and buffaloes ; 
but his remarks about rhinoceroses made me think he was 
not always an exact observer, especially after I had read 
what you said. 

" By the way, did I ever mention to you that Willie 
Chanler's party was continually charged by black rhin- 
ocereses, and his companion, an Austrian named Von 
Hohnel, who stayed with me once, was badly mauled by 
one." 

Like most schoolboys with a taste for natural history and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 227 

an adventurous disposition Selous had, as we have seen, 
been an industrious bird-nester. In his youth he had 
commenced to make a collection of European birds' eggs, 
and this taste, usually abandoned by most boys in after-life, 
was in him only dormant. When he set out to do anything 
he generally carried it through to the end ; and so when 
opportunity came again, as it did after his wanderings in 
South Africa were finished, he seized it with avidity. He 
was much too good a naturalist to collect eggs wholesale, as 
some collectors unfortunately do, but contented himself 
with one or two clutches taken by himself. His contention 
was, I think, a correct one, that if only one clutch of eggs of 
a bird is taken, the same bird either sits again and lays a 
fresh set of eggs or makes a new nest. So little or no harm 
is done. 

Being a member of the British Ornithologists' Union he 
knew all the regular egg-collectors, and soon obtained the 
best information where various species were to be found. 
Each year as April came round he packed his bag and, 
occasionally accompanied by some local enthusiast, he went 
to all the best resorts of rare birds in England, Scotland, 
the Orkneys, Asia Minor, Spain, Hungary, Holland, and 
Iceland. 

Thus in 1897 he commenced the egg-hunting season by 
going to Smyrna in February with the intention of taking 
the nests of the large raptorial birds which there breed very 
early in the year. The point he made for was the Murad 
Dagh, a range of mountains in the interior of Asia Minor, 
where he knew the short -toed, golden and imperial eagles, 
and the black and griffon vultures nested. He also had 
some hopes that he might secure one of the big stags before 
they dropped their horns. On his journey he suffered much 
from the cold in the mountains, and was also at first un- 
successful in finding any of the big stags, who seemed to have 
been hunted out of the range. He saw three fine stags but 
did not succeed in finding one of those which he had wounded. 
He then returned to Smyrna and went into the Maimun 
Dagh again.V^Here he took the eggsfof black vulture, griffon 
vulture, short -toed eagle and lammergeier. Getting tired of 



228 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

this range he went on to the Ak Dagh, where he took one 
golden eagle's nest, three griffon vultures' eggs, and two of 
black vultures. He also shot a young red deer, with which 
was a fine old stag that had just dropped its horns. He 
returned to England in March. 

In England he commenced his nesting operations in April 
by hunting Thatcham Marsh (near Reading) for water-rails' 
nests, and took two. Then he went on to the Scilly Isles for 
sea-birds. 

He says, in a letter to me : " I am going to Brabant if I 
can obtain a permit from the Dutch Government to collect 
a few eggs, and after that to Scotland, where I shall remain 
until it is time to leave for America." In Scilly, he says : 
" I got eggs of the Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 
Herring Gull, Manx Shearwater, Oyster-catcher, and Ringed 
Plover, but found no Terns breeding." On June 8th he 
decided to put off his trip to Holland, as it was too late. I 
then gave him particulars where he could get Arctic, Lesser 
and Sandwich terns in Scotland, and also obtained per- 
mission for him to take two Capercaillie nests. All of these 
he obtained. 

In any collection of hunting trophies, the gems of all 
collections (with perhaps the exception of the red deer of 
Europe and the great sheep and goats of Central Asia) are 
the great deer of North America, and Selous had for long 
envied the possessors of such fine specimens of moose, 
wapiti and caribou as had been obtained in the seventies 
and eighties of the last century. It is true that as good 
moose and caribou can be kiUed to-day as ever ; but the 
great wapiti, owing to their curtailed range, are gone for 
ever, so a hunter to-day must be content with inferior 
specimens. In 1897 three or four specimens of wapiti were 
allowed to be killed in the restricted area south of the 
Yellowstone Park, and it was with the intention of killing 
these as well as other North American game that Selous 
turned to the West in August, 1897. 

In his youth Selous, like other boys of similar tastes, had 
devoured the works of Ballantyne, Mayne Reid, Catlin, and 
Kingston, relating to fact and fiction, and had always 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 229 

desired to visit America as one of his lands of dreams. But 
it was not civilized America that appealed to him. Cities 
are the same all the world over. It was the land of vast 
plains and tractless forests swarming with game that 
appealed to him ; and if he could not, alas, now find such a 
hunter's paradise, he could at least see something of the 
little that was truly wild which was left and perhaps obtain 
a few fair specimens for his collection. Once, it is true, he 
had actually taken his passage to America. That happened 
in 1893, but the outbreak of the Matabele war in that year 
had caused him to alter his plans and he went back to 
South Africa instead. 

Selous had a good friend, W. Moncrieff, who owned a small 
cattle ranch in the heart of the Big Horn Mountains in 
Wyoming. Here in the adjoining forests and mountains still 
lived a remnant of the bears, wapiti, mule-deer and sheep 
that had formerly been so abundant, and the local knowledge 
enjoyed by Moncrieff enabled him to furnish Selous with 
the best information. Accordingly he left England accom- 
panied by his wife, and, passing through Canada, reached 
the ranch on the last day of August. Next day the party on 
horses, accompanied by a waggon with one Bob Graham as 
a guide, struck into the mountains and, after passing over 
the main range of the Big Horns, descended into the Big 
Horn basin. This is covered with sage brush, and is still the 
home of a few prong-horned antelopes, two of which, one a 
good male, Selous succeeded in shooting. 

The hunters then proceeded up the south fork of Stinking 
Water, and established a main camp in the forests, where a 
few very shy wapiti males were still to be found. For twenty 
days Selous toiled in a mass of dense and fallen timber before 
he carried his first wapiti head back to camp. Wapiti are in 
fact now both shy and scarce, and a man must persevere and 
work continuously, at least early in the season, before even 
one fair specimen can be found, but Selous greatly enjoyed 
the grandeur and wildness of the scenery, and being still in 
the prime of life the exertion of daily toil did not in any way 
affect his energy. On September 29th he shot his first mule- 
deer buck. A little snow came and helped to make tracking 



230 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

easier. Then Selous had some luck, and he killed four 
wapiti, two in one day, and a fifth near Davies' ranch on 
October 28th. Near the same place too he killed one of the 
few remaining white-tailed deer-bucks in Wyoming, but its 
head was rather a poor one, that of an old male " going- 
back." Selous wrote an account of this trip to Roosevelt, 
then Assistant Secretary to the American Navy, and received 
(November 30th, 1897) the following reply :— 

" Your letter made me quite melancholy — first, to think 
I wasn't to see you after all ; and next, to realize so vividly 
how almost the last real hunting-grounds in America have 
gone. Thirteen years ago I had splendid sport on the Big 
Horn Mountains which you crossed. Six years ago I saw 
elk in bands of one and two hundred on Buffalo Fork ; and 
met but one hunting expedition while I was out. A very 
few more years will do away with all the really wild hunting, 
at least so far as bear and elk are concerned, in the Rocky 
Mountains and the West generally ; one of the last places 
will be the Olympic Peninsula of Oregon, where there is a 
very peculiar elk, a different species, quite as big in body 
but with smaller horns, which are more like those of the 
European red deer, and with a black head. Goat, sheep, 
and bear will for a long time abound in British Columbia and 
Alaska. 

" Well, I am glad you enjoyed yourself, anyhow, and that 
you did get a sufficient number of fair heads — wapiti, prong- 
buck, black-tail, and white-tail. Of course I am very sorry 
that you did not get a good sheep and a bear or two. In the 
north-eastern part of the Park there is some wintering 
ground for the elk ; and I doubt if they will ever be entirely 
killed out in the Park ; but in a very short while shooting 
in the West, where it exists, will simply be the kind that 
can now be obtained in Maine and New York ; that is, the 
game will be scarce, and the game-laws fairly observed in 
consequence of the existence of a class of professional guides ; 
and a hunter who gets one good head for a trip will feel he 
has done pretty weU. You were in luck to get so fine a 
prong-buck head. 

" Do tell Mrs. Selous how sorry I am to miss her, as well 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 231 

as you. I feel rather melancholy to think that my own four 
small boys will practically see no hunting on this side at all, 
and indeed no hunting anywhere unless they have the 
adventurous temper that will make them start out into wild 
regions to find their fortunes. I was just in time to see the 
last of the real wilderness life and real wilderness hunting. 
How I wish I could have been with you this year ! But, as 
I wrote you before, during the last three seasons I have been 
able to get out West but once, and then only for a fortnight 
on my ranch, where I shot a few antelope for meat. 

" You ought to have Hough's ' Story of the Cowboy ' and 
Van Dyke's ' Still Hunter.' Also I think you might possibly 
enjoy small portions of the three volumes of the Boone and 
Crockett Club's publications. They could be obtained from 
the ' Forest and Stream ' people at 346 Broadway, New York, 
by writing. Have you ever seen Washington Irving's ' Trip 
on the Prairie,' and Lewis and Clarke's Expedition ? And 
there are two very good volumes, about fifty years old, now 
out of print, by a lieutenant in the British Army named 
Ruxton, the titles of which for the moment I can't think of ; 
but I will look them up and send them to you. He describes 
the game less than the trappers and hunters of the period ; 
men who must have been somewhat like your elephant - 
hunters. When I was first on the plains there were a few of 
them left ; and the best hunting-trip I ever made was in the 
company of one of them, though he was not a particularly 
pleasant old fellow to work with. 

" Now, to answer your question about ranching ; and 
of course you are at liberty to quote me. 

" I know a good deal of ranching in western North 
Dakota, eastern Montana and north-eastern Wyoming. 
My ranch is in the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri, a good 
cattle-country, with shelter, traversed by a river, into which 
run here and there perennial streams. It is a dry country, 
but not in any sense a desert. Year in and year out we 
found that it took about twenty-five acres to support a steer 
or cow. When less than that was allowed the ranch became 
overstocked, and loss was certain to follow. Of course where 
hay is put up, and cultivation with irrigation attempted, 



232 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the amount of land can be reduced ; but any country in 
that part ot the West which could support a steer or cow on 
five acres would be country which it would pay to attempt 
to cultivate, and it would, therefore, cease to be merely 
pastoral country. 

" Is this about what you wish ? I have made but a short 
trip to Texas. There are parts of it near the coast which are 
well-watered, and support a large number of cattle. Else- 
where I do not believe that it supports more cattle to the 
square mile than the north-western country, and where 
there are n:iore they get terribly thinned out by occasional 
droughts. In Hough's book you will see some description 
of this very ranching in Texas and elsewhere. I really 
grudge the fact that you and Mrs. Selous got away from this 
side without my even getting a glimpse of you." 

As he had only shot two wapiti with fair heads and one 
mule-deer with average horns. Scions decided to have a 
second hunt in the Rockies, with the object of obtaining 
better specimens. In November, as a rule, there is heavy 
snow in the mountains, and this has the effect of driving the 
game down out of the heavy timber into more open ground 
where " heads " can more easily be seen and judged. 
Accordingly in October, 1898, Selous went to Rod Lodge 
in Montana and there met the hunter Graham. This time 
he went up the north fork of Stinking Water to the forest 
and about twelve miles east of the Yellowstone Park. Mild 
weather, however, throughout November was all against 
seeing any quantity of game, so Selous was again somewhat 
disappointed with the results of this hunt . 

After this trip, in i8g8, he wrote to mc : — 

" Come here yourself as soon as you can. Vous serez 
toujours le bicnvenu. A damned newspaper reporter (an 
American, who came here whilst I was in London, and 
would not go away until he had seen me) said I have got 
some good wapiti heads, but I only got one fair one. I got 
four wapiti bulls altogether, but two had very small heads — 
not worth taking. I got four rnule-deer stags, one with a 
very nice head and a second not at all bad. I also shot 
another lynx ; but 1 had very unfortunate weather, hardly 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 233 

any snow, and when I left the Mountains the wapiti were 
still up in their early autumn range." 

Selous was rather disappointed in not obtaining better 
wapiti heads, and wrote in his book ("Travels East and 
West ") that bigger heads of deer could now be killed in 
Hungary than in the Rockies. Commenting on this, 
Roosevelt, in a letter to him at a later date, says : — 

" By the way, I was in the winter range of the deer 
(Colorado), and I have never seen them so numerous. They 
were all black-tail (mule-deer). Every day I saw scores, and 
some days hundreds. There were also elk (wapiti). I did not 
shoot cither deer or elk, of course ; but I saw elk-antlers shot 
last fall, ranging from 52 to 56 inches in length. I think you 
were a few years ahead of time (although only a few years) 
when you stated that already bigger antlers could be secured 
in Hungary than in the Rockies." 

In this doubtless Roosevelt was correct ; but Selous had 
hunted in a district where all good heads had been picked 
off, and the range and feed of wapiti had been so curtailed 
that even at this date and now it is practically impossible 
to obtain a good specimen. 

In April, 1899, he went with his wife to Wiesbaden, 
returning in June. In October he paid a short visit to his 
friend, Mr. Danford, in Transylvania, where he killed some 
good specimens of chamois — one, a female, having horns 
II inches long. In November he came home again, and 
having some thought of hunting elk in Norway in the follow- 
ing year, wrote to me in November, 1899 : "I want to hear 
all about your hunt in Norway, so come over here at once. 
I am very glad to hear you were so successful with the elk 
and bear, and should much like to have a try next year, if 
I could stand the work, which I have always heard is very 
hard." This hunt, however, failed to materialize. 

One of Selous' beliefs was that it was impossible for men 
to hold wide sympathies and to lead others towards the light 
unless they had been through the grinding-mill of experience 
in other lands. His broad-minded outlook made him a 
cosmopolitan in one sense of the word, for he found good and 
something ever to learn from the men of all nations ; yet 



234 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

withal at heart he was intensely English of the EngUsh, and 
believed in our destiny, as a nation, as a guiding light to 
universal understanding. His view was that no man had 
any right to express an opinion on another nation unless 
that man had lived amongst the people he criticized and 
could speak their language. Such a theory would no doubt 
be unpopular, but it is right. In international differences 
all kinds of people express their views in contemporary 
literature just because they happen to have the ear of the 
public ; but how many of these really know anjrthing about 
the people they criticize. A popular cry is raised, and the 
mob follow like a flock of sheep. An instance of this was the 
complete misunderstanding of the causes of the Boer War 
and Boer nation. There were not half a dozen men in 
England or Africa to tell the public at home the true state 
of things, and when they did express their views they were 
quickly drowned in a flood of lies and misrepresentations by 
interested politicians and gold-magnates who held the press. 
Men like Selous and Sir William Butler, because they told 
the absolute truth, were dubbed " Pro-Boers," when in 
reality they were the best examples of " Pro-English " 
Englishmen. They simply could not be silent amongst the 
welter of falsehoods, and only tried to stem the flowing tide 
of mendacity. Their strongly expressed view that the war 
would not be a \valk-over for us, and that we were fighting 
a gallant foe who deemed themselves right in defending 
their country, which had been most distinctly given back 
to them by inviolable treaties (made by the Gladstone 
Government), was correct, and that they would fight desper- 
ately and to a large extent successfully was abundantly 
proved by subsequent events. If Selous made a mistake it 
was in allowing certain letters to the " Times " and " Morn- 
ing Post "to appear after the war had commenced. I have 
reason, however, to believe that these letters were written 
and sent in prior to the commencement of hostilities, and 
that they were " held over " to a time when their appearance 
was, to say the least of it, unfortunate. 

In justice to Selous, however, it must be said that after 
this he kept silent, nor did he ever utter a word pubUcly in 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 235 

the matter. He felt that we were now hopelessly involved, 
and that anything he could say would be of little use. 
Though he felt sad and disappointed over the whole matter, 
he was far too much a patriot to do other than wish success 
to our arms, though he ever hoped that some amicable 
settlement would evolve out of the whole disastrous affair. 
Afterwards too he often expressed his appreciation of the 
noble way in which the subsequent British Government 
treated the Boers, both at the conclusion of peace and the 
liberal manner in which we sought to bury the hatchet — a 
manner which unfortunately has not always met with 
success amongst the older Boer irreconcilables. Men like 
Botha and Smuts have proved that our later policy has been 
broad-minded and humane, and that in time we shall 
amalgamate in one South African Dominion a nation abso- 
lutely loyal to the British Crown ; but it will be a long time 
before the malcontents have lost all their bitterness and a 
new generation understands what is meant by a Greater 
South Africa. 

His true feelings as regards the war are thus stated in a 
letter to me, November 5th, 1899 : — 

" This war is a most deplorable business ; but of course, 
as you say, we must bring it to a successful conclusion now 
at whatever cost ; but think what South Africa will be like 
when it is over. However, it is useless talking about it. My 
letters to the ' Times ' have raised a great deal of ill-feeling 
against me in this country." 

And again, writing January ist, 1900, he says : — 

" I am very depressed about this war. It is a bad business, 
and justice is not on our side. There was a lot of dirty work 
done by the capitalists to bring it about, and no good can 
come of it for this country. I have seen several letters 
written by Jan Hofmeyr during the last few months, be- 
ginning before the war. They are very interesting, and I 
hope will be published some day. They seem to explode 
the idea of the leaders of the Cape Africanders having been 
in a conspiracy of any kind with the Pretoria lot." 

From 1872 onwards Selous had known and studied the 
Boers intimately. He had lived and hunted with them from 



236 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the Orange Free State to Matabeleland, and had found them 
a simple race of hunter-farmers, intensely patriotic and 
hopelessly conservative. He knew that " they are neither 
angels nor devils, but just men like ourselves," and that the 
views of the British, German and Jew storekeepers and 
traders of the Transvaal and Orange Free State were hope- 
lessly wrong, because they did not know the real back-veldt 
Boers of the country, who made up the majority of the 
Nation. He himself had never received anything but kind- 
ness and straight dealing from them, and was therefore 
able to appreciate their indignation and outbursts of fury 
when a second annexation was contemplated by our Govern- 
ment. He replies to the charge that life for Englishmen was 
impossible in the Transvaal after the retrocession to the 
Boers of that country in 1881 : " Mr. Rider Haggard has 
told us that he found it impossible to go on living in the 
Transvaal amid the daily insults of victorious Boers, and he 
also tells us that Boers look upon Englishmen with contempt, 
and consider them to be morally and physically cowards. 
I travelled slowly through the Transvaal by bullock-waggon 
shortly after the retrocession of the country in 1881, and 
visited all the farmhouses on my route. I met with no 
insults nor the least incivility anywhere, nor ever heard any 
boasting about Boer successes over our troops, though at 
that time I understood the ' Taal ' well. In common with 
all who really know the Boers, who have lived amongst them, 
and not taken their character at second-hand, I have always 
been struck by their moderation in speaking of their victories 
over our soldiers. As for the Boers having a contempt for 
Englishmen as individuals, that is nonsense. They hate the 
British Government, and knowing their history, I for one 
think they have ample reason for doing so. But the in- 
dividual Englishman that they know, they take at his real 
value. There are of course, unfortunately, certain English- 
men in Johannesburg, or people who are now put down as 
Englishmen, who could not but appear as contemptible to a 
Boer as they would do to most people in this country. But, 
on the other hand, I could name many Englishmen and 
Scotchmen, men who have been honest and upright and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 237 

fearless in all their dealings with their neighbours, who have 
been held in immense respect by all the Boers of their 
acquaintance. These men, however, lived amongst the 
Boers, spoke their language, and took a sympathetic interest 
in their lives ; whilst one of the troubles of the present 
situation in the Transvaal is that the Uitlander population 
of Johannesburg is, in its sympathies, its mode of life, and 
all its hopes and aspirations, as wide as the poles asunder 
from the pastoral Boers, with whom it never mixes, and 
whom it therefore does not understand." (Letter to the 
" Times," October 24th, 1899.) 

This was also exactly my own experience as recently as 
1893, when I lived entirely and trekked with Boers for a year. 
Never was I ever treated except with the greatest kindness 
both by my own intimate friends or casual acquaintances, 
once I had learnt to speak the " Taal," nor did I ever hear 
them " crow " over their victories of 1881. There was, how- 
ever, always the latent fear that the British Government 
would again play them false, and they would be once more 
forced to fight us ; but with individual Englishmen they 
liked and trusted there was no sign of animosity. ^ 

In June, 1900, Selous was asked to sign a protest, issued 
by the " South Africa Conciliation Committee," inaugurated 
by W. L. Courtney (editor of the " Fortnightly Review "). 
In the following letter, however, written to the Secretary, 
he manifests his sound common-sense in separating the 
" causes of the war " from what could be done at the 
moment when our forces were actually fighting and likely to 
prove victorious. His grievance was with the authorities 

^ As an instance of this I may mention that the greater number of 
the " hunting " Boers I hved with and knew well were captured in the 
Middelburg district in 1900 by a party of Steinacker's horse, who sur- 
prised the commando at dawn. Ail were captured except Commandant 
lioelef Van Staden, my former hvmter, one of the finest men it has ever 
been my good fortune to meet in any land. He fought his way out single- 
handed and escaped. When brought into camp these Boers were well 
treated by Colonel Greenhill-Gardyne (Gordon Highlanders), who asked 
them if they knew me, to which they replied that 1 was the only English- 
man they had ever known and that they would consider it a favour if 
he would kindly send a message of friendship to me, detailing their capture 
and certain misfortunes that had befalk'n some of their families in the 
war. They were also particularly anxious that 1 should know that Van 
Staden had escaped. This letter 1 treasure, for it shows that the Boers 
have no personal animosity to those who liave once been their friends. 



238 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

who brought about the war and the methods which had 
been employed to make it, and not with the conduct thereof 
or its natural effects. Wherefore he refused to sign the 
protest, and gave his reasons as follows : — 

" August ^rd, 1900. 

" I have left your circular so long unanswered because I 
have been thinking over it very deeply, and because, 
although I realize most fully the force of all the arguments 
that can be used against the annexation of the Boer Re- 
pubhcs, I still think that those who sign the protest ought 
to be able to propose some scheme of settlement which 
holds out a better prospect of future peace. I personally 
can think of no such scheme. Had honourable terms been 
offered to the Boers, and the independence of their countries 
been assured to them with certain necessary limitations, im- 
mediately after the occupation of Pretoria, there might 
have been great hope for the future peace of the country, 
but all that has occurred, not only in the Transvaal and 
Orange State, but also in the Cape Colony, must have 
caused such a feeling of exasperation amongst the Dutch 
Africanders against the British Government, that I cannot 
but feel that the granting of a limited independence to the 
Boer Republics would not now produce rest or peace. 
Things have gone too far for that now, and it seems to me 
that Great Britain will only be able to hold South Africa in 
the immediate future by force. I am of course convinced 
of the truth of all you say in the protest, that the annexa- 
tion of the Boer Republics is ' contrary to the public declara- 
tions of Her Majesty's Ministers, alien to all the best tradi- 
tions of a freedom-loving country, burdensome to the 
resources of the nation, and wholly distasteful to the majority 
of our fellow-subjects in South Africa,' but that does not 
blind me to the fact that the race hatred that has been 
engendered by this war is so deep and so terrible that the 
granting of independence to the Boer Republics would be 
more immediately disastrous to British supremacy in 
South Africa than unjust annexation accompanied b}' the 
garrisoning of the country with large numbers of troops. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 239 

Annexation or no annexation, I firmly believe that soone 
or later the people who actually live in South Africa — as dis- 
tinguished from those whose only interest in the country 
is the exploitation of its mineral wealth — will govern the 
country, and, if they wish it, have their own flag, and throw 
off all allegiance to Great Britain. I would gladly sign any 
protest against the policy which brought about the war, 
one of the results of which is this ill-omened annexation of 
independent states, but I am beginning to think, with John 
Morley, that annexation was an almost necessary result of 
a war pushed to the bitter end, I am very sorry to have 
troubled you with so long a letter, but I wish you to under- 
stand that, although my views as to the iniquity of the 
policy which brought about the war will always remain 
the same, and although I think the annexation of the two 
Boer Republics a piece of injustice and a national disgrace, 
and would most willingly have signed a protest against it 
three months ago, I now feel the exasperation caused by the 
war is so great that the independence of the Boer Republics 
might very possibly be used against British supremacy in 
South Africa. It is a very distressing outlook, and I can 
see no light in the future ; but stiU I do not feel justified in 
signing the present protest. I beg to thank you for the last 
two leaflets you sent me, Nos. 53 and 54. The publication 
of Colonel Stonham's evidence, as to the humanity of the 
Boers, ought to have a very good effect if it could be made 
widely known." 

After this the war drew on slowly to its eventual finish 
in 1901, Selous' only public contribution being a letter to 
the " Speaker," which was used by the South African 
ConciHation Committee in its efforts to influence the Govern- 
ment, and part of this letter, which deals with the effects of 
the war on the Boer population and the future, is worth 
quoting : — 

" Should it, however, be determined to erase the Boer 
RepubHcs from the map of Africa and to carry on the war 
to the point of practically exterminating the able-bodied 
male population of these two sparsely-peopled States, let 
it not be thought that the surviving women will bring up 



240 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

their children to become loyal British subjects. Let English- 
men remember that the men who prophesied that within a 
short time after the war was over the Boers would become 
reconciled to the British, whom they would then have learnt 
to respect, are the same people who also told us that the war 
would be a very short and simple campaign, as the Boers 
were a degenerate, cowardly race, who could no longer shoot 
at all well, and who would be sure to disperse to their 
homes after the first battle, if only a hundred of them were 
killed. These were the sort of predictions which were very 
commonly heard in this country a few months before the 
war commenced, and they were the utterances of men 
wholly ignorant of the Boer character. 

"As showing that there are people whose opinions are 
entitled to respect who think differently, I will now quote 
from memory a passage in a letter lately written by a 
well-known and well-educated Dutch Africander to a friend 
in this country : ' Those people who expect that the Boers 
will soon forgive and forget this war, and settle down quietly 
under the British flag, are most terribly mistaken. I think 
I know my own countrymen, and I believe that if, after this 
war is over, the independence of the Republics is destroyed, 
the historic episode of Hamilcar making Hannibal swear 
eternal enmity to Rome will be re-enacted in many a farm- 
house throughout the Transvaal and Orange Free State. 
The Boer women will teach their children to hate the very 
name of England, and bid them look forward to the day 
when their country will be freed from British domination.' 
These words, even if the idea they express is somewhat ex- 
aggerated, are worthy of attention when it is remembered 
how rapidly the Boers increase in numbers and lighting 
strength." (" The Speaker," 1900.) 

After this he only expressed his views to a few personal 
friends, such as President Roosevelt, who was in close 
sympathy with his hopes that peace on a fair basis might 
soon be restored. In reply to one of his letters, Roosevelt, 
writing March, 1901, says : — 

"It makes me melancholy to see the Boer War hanging 
on. Your limit of eighteen months (the time Selous stated 




The Wandering Minstrel. 



THE LIFE OF R C. SELOUS 241 

it would last) is rapidly approaching. Of course there can 
be only one ending ; but it is a dreadful thing to have the 
ending come only by the exhaustion of the country and of 
the fighting men. How I wish you could be made adminis- 
trator of all South Africa. Somehow I feel that you could 
do what no other man could do, and really bring about peace. 
I begin to be afraid you have been right about this war. I 
hope we shall see things go right hereafter." 

It is interesting too to study both Roosevelt's and the 
American attitude towards our policy in the Boer War. In 
reply to Selous' explanation of the whole matter the American 
statesman thus writes (March igth, 1900) : — 

" I appreciate very deeply the trouble you have taken in 
writing to me ; although in a way your letter has made me 
feel very melancholy. My idea of the questions at issue has 
been mainly derived from the ' Spectator,' a paper that I 
take and always hke, and which impresses me as being 
honestly desirous of getting at the true facts in any given 
case. I paid especial heed to what it said because of its 
entire disapproval of Cecil Rhodes and the capitalist gang. 
Moreover, a friend of mine, Ferdinand Becker, who was in 
the Transvaal and who saw very clearly the rights and 
wrongs of each side, and for whose judgment I have great 
respect, insists that as things actually were the war was 
inevitable, that there had to he a fight, and that one or the other 
race had to he supreme in South Africa. By the way, much of 
the pro-Boer feeHng here is really anti-English, and as I 
have a very warm remembrance of England's attitude to us 
two years ago, I have of course no sympathy with such 
manifestations. So I thought after Montague White's visit 
to me that I should like to hear the other side from someone 
whom I could thoroughly trust, and I appealed to you. It 
is largely an academic curiosity on my part, so to speak, 
for the answer of the English Premier to the communication 
of transmissal sent by President McKinley with the letters 
from the Presidents of the two Republics shows that any 
mediation would be promptly rejected. I do not suppose 
that the end can be very far distant now, unless there is a 
formidable uprising in the Cape Colony, for it would look as 



242 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

if there had never been fifty thousand Boers under arms, 
and Roberts has four times that number of troops in South 
Africa. Evidently the Boers are most gallant fighters, and 
quite as efficient as they are gallant. 

" I had been inclined to look at the war as analogous to 
the struggles which put the Americans in possession of 
Texas, New Mexico, and California. I suppose the technical 
rights are about the same in one case as in the other ; but, 
of course, there is an enormous difference in the quality of 
the invading people ; for the Boers have shown that they 
have no kinship with the Mexicans. In Texas the Americans 
first went in to settle and become citizens, making an Out- 
lander population. This Outlander population then rose, 
and was helped by raids from the United States, which in 
point of morality did not differ in the least from the Jameson 
raid — although there was at back of them no capitalist 
intrigue, but simply a love of adventure and a feeling of 
arrogant and domineering race-superiority. The Americans 
at last succeeded in wresting Texas from the Mexicans and 
making it an independent Republic. This Republic tried 
to conquer New Mexico but failed. Then we annexed it, 
made its quarrels our own, and did conquer both New 
Mexico and CaUfornia. In the case of Texas there was the 
dark blot of slavery which rested on the victors ; for they 
turned Texas from a free province into a slave republic. 
Nevertheless, it was of course ultimately to the great ad- 
vantage of civilization that the Anglo-American should 
supplant the Indo-Spaniard. It has been ultimately to 
the advantage of the Indo-Spaniard himself, or at any rate 
to the advantage of the best men in his ranks. In my 
regiment, which was raised in the South-West, I had forty 
or fifty men of part Indian blood and perhaps half as many 
of part Spanish blood, and among my captains was one of 
the former and one of the latter — both being as good 
Americans in every sense of the word as were to be found in 
our ranks. 

" If the two races, Dutch and English, are not riven 
asunder by too intense antagonism, surely they ought to 
amalgamate in South Africa as they have done here in 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 243 

North America, where I and all my fellows of Dutch blood 
are now mixed with and are indistinguishable from our 
fellow Americans, not only of English, but of German, 
Scandinavian, and other ancestry. 

" The doubtful, and to my mind the most melancholy, 
element in the problem is what you bring out about the 
Englishman no longer colonizing in the way that the Boer 
does. This is a feature due, I suppose, to the enormous 
development of urban life and the radical revolution in the 
social and industrial conditions of the English-speaking 
peoples during the past century. In our Pacific States, and 
even more in Australia, we see the same tendency to the 
foundation of enormous cities instead of the settlement of 
the country districts by pioneer farmers. Luckily, America 
north of the Rio Grande and Australia definitely belong to 
our peoples already, and there is enough of the pastoral and 
farming element among us to colonize the already thinly- 
settled waste places which now belong to our people. But 
the old movement which filled the Mississippi valley at the 
beginning of this century with masterful dogged frontier- 
farmers, each skilled in the use of the rifle and axe, each 
almost independent of outside assistance, and each with a 
swarm of tow-headed children, has nearly come to an end. 
When Kentucky, at the close of the eighteenth century, was 
as populous as Oregon 100 years later, Kentucky did not 
have one-tenth of the urban population that Oregon had 
when she reached the same stage. Now, urban people are 
too civilized, have too many wants and too much social 
ambition, to take up their abode permanently in the wilder- 
ness and marry the kind of women who alone could be 
contented, or indeed could live in the wilderness. On the 
great plains of the West, when I was in the cattle business, 
I saw many young Easterners and young Englishmen of 
good families who came out there ; but not one in twenty, 
whether from the Atlantic States or from England, married 
and grew up as a permanent settler in the country ; and 
the twentieth was usually a declasse. The other nineteen 
were always working to make money and then go home, or 
somewhere else, and they did not have their womankind 



244 THE LIFE OF E. C. SELOUS 

with them. The ' younger son ' of whom Kipling sings is 
a picturesque man always, and can do very useful work as 
a hunter and explorer, or even a miner, but he is not a 
settler, and does not leave any permanent mark upon any 
true frontier - community with which I am acquainted. 
After the frontier has been pushed back, when the ranchman 
and the cowboy and the frontier-ganger, who arc fitted for 
the actual conditions, have come in, then the ' younger son ' 
and the struggling gentleman -adventurer may make their 
appearance in the towns. Of course, there are exceptions to 
all of this, but as a rule what I have pointed out is true. I 
have seen scores — perhaps hundreds — of men from Oxford 
and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, who went into cattle- 
growing on the Great Plains, but they did just as I did; 
that is, worked with greater or less success at the busi- 
ness, gained an immense amount of good from it personally, 
especially in the way of strength and gratifying a taste for 
healthy adventure, learned much of human nature from 
associating with the men round about, and then went back 
to their own homes in England or New York or Boston, 
largely because, when it came to marrying and bringing up 
children, they could not well face the conditions ; and so 
the real population of the future in the valleys of the upper 
Missouri, the Platte, and the Rio Grande, will be composed 
of the sons of their companions, who were themselves 
descendants of small farmers in Texas, Missouri, and 
Illinois, or of working-men from Scandinavia and Germany. 

" Pardon this long letter, which has wandered aside from 
the thesis with which it started. I hope that the language of 
the more highly civilized people will, in spite of the evil 
influences of to-day, gradually oust the ' Taal,' or whatever 
you call Boer Dutch in South Africa, and that when the 
conquest of the two Republics is succeeded by the full 
liberty which I understand the Cape Dutch enjoy, there 
will come a union in blood as well as in that between the two 
peoples who are so fundamentally alike. 

" I am looking forward to the receipt of the three books 
3'ou have been so very kind as to send me. I do know a 
certain amount about the Boers from the time of their great 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 245 

trek onward, for it has always seemed to me to be one of the 
most fascinating bits of modern history." 

In the spring of 1900 Selous went on a bird-nesting trip 
to the forest and marshes of the Danube in Hungary, and 
was successful in getting the eggs of many new species for 
his collection. When he arrived home in June he found his 
finances in low water, owing to enlarging his house, and so 
feared he would be unable to make an extensive autumn 
hunt, but later on things improved, and he was able to go 
West after all. 

In September, 1900, he went to Canada to hunt moose, 
and arrived at Mattawa, Ontario, on September 24th. On 
this trip he was fortunate in securing the services of George 
Crawford, a half-breed Indian, who was probably the best 
moose-caller and hunter in that province. In spite of the 
number of American hunters who at this time made the 
districts of Kippewa and Tamiskaming their favourite 
hunting-grounds, Crawford always knew where to go to 
secure moose, and it was not long before Selous reached a 
hunting-ground, about three days north of Mattawa, on 
Lake Bois Franc, where he killed two fine bulls. After this 
short trip he went to Snake Lake to try and secure a good 
white-tailed deer stag, but was not very successful, as he 
only secured a four-year-old buck with moderate horns. 
On October 26th he landed in Newfoundland and, being 
supplied with bad information, went by railway from Port- 
aux-Basque to Howley, a station on the main line, where 
the annual slaughter of caribou took place late in the season. 

It was not long before Selous found that the so-called 
" sport " of shooting caribou on migration as they crossed 
the line in their southern migration was not sport at all, 
and that frequently, owing to the number of bullets flying 
in all directions fired by enthusiastic meat - hunters, the 
shooting was likely to result in human as well as cervine 
casualties. Moreover, hardly any good stags come south 
with the mass of does and immatures, so, taking his guide 
Stroud and an old man named Robert Saunders he left 
the place in disgust and went south to the Terra Nova river, 
intending to strike into the heart of the country and, if 



246 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

possible, catch up the mam body of the migrating deer 
before they cast their horns and reached their winter-quarters 
near the south coast. But he was too late, and after an 
onerous tramp, during which he penetrated beyond the 
limits reached by other white men, he was forced to return 
owing to lack of food, but not before his sharp eyes had seen 
numerous trees stripped by " summering " stags in the 
neighbourhood of St. John's Lake. These signs convinced 
him that the local movements of the deer were unknown 
even to the hunters in Newfoundland, and that the big stags 
would probably be found in autumn in the heart of the island, 
and not on migration in the north. In this he was quite 
correct. He did not, however, go home without a specimen, 
for he killed one nice stag on his journey inland. 

Accordingly he made plans to hunt in the neighbourhood 
of St. John's Lake in the following autumn of 1901, and pro- 
curing two canoes from Peterborough in Ontario, and 
enlisting the services of Saunders and his cousin John Wells, 
he ascended the rocky Terra Nova river in September. To 
the reader it may seem easy to go seventy miles in a canoe 
upstream, but the fact that previous hunters had not been 
there proves that there were difficulties. No Newfoundland 
boats in fact would withstand the rocky benches of this swift- 
flowing river, so progress can only be made for the most part 
by wading and dragging the canoes, whilst the hunter has 
to force his way through dense forest, so thick at times that 
an axe has to be used for progress to be made before reach- 
ing the higher plateaux, where lakes and streams are easily 
passed. Once on Lake St. John, all was easy, and Selous 
found game abundant and a small migration of big stags 
already in progress.^ 

Moreover, Selous was lucky enough to have struck a good 
year for " heads." In less than eight days he shot his five 
stags, two of which carried remarkably fine heads — one, 
in fact, a forty-pointer, which he killed by a long shot close 
to his camp, being one of the finest specimens ever killed 
in the island by any sportsman. Selous often spoke after- 

1 This is very unusual, for in four seasons' hunting there, 1 never found 
the deer move at so early a date as September 15th. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 247 

wards of this trip as being one of the pleasantest he ever 
had in his Hfe. 

He writes, October 6th, 1901 : — 

" I am back from Newfoundland. I had a short but very 
successful little trip into quite new country, thanks to my 
canoes, and shot the five stags my licence entitled me to 
kill very quickly. I have got one really remarkable head, 
a second, very handsome, with beautiful double brow-antlers, 
and very line tops ; and a third, a pretty regular head of 
medium size — the other two not much to boast about. 
But my two good heads are really fine, and when you see 
them you will never rest till you go to my new ground and 
get more like them. I can give you all particulars when we 
meet, and have arranged that my guide — hardly the right 
word, as we got into country where he had never been in 
his life and where he says no one has ever yet hunted, 
except a few Micmac Indians who were out after caribou, 
but trapping beavers along the rivers — shall keep himself 
unengaged for you up to June next." 

In December we had some good days together in Shrop- 
shire, at Sir Beville Stanier's, shooting partridges, and at 
Swythamley with the Brocklehursts killing driven grouse 
in a blizzard. Selous, though then over fifty, was much 
fitter and more active than many a man of twenty-five, and 
the way he walked and talked was a joy to behold. After 
dinner he would begin telHng stories, and at 1.30 was still 
hard at it when most of us were dying to go to bed. Nothing 
could curb his enthusiasm once a congenial topic was 
started, and his avidity was such both for acquiring and 
dispensing knowledge that time itself seemed all too short. 

Early in January, 1902, he went to Smyrna for the purpose 
of egg -collecting, with the added expectation of getting a 
shot at a stag or wild goat, and on March 5th writes : — 

"I got back from Asia Minor last week, with a good 
series of eggs of the White-tailed Eagle and one Lam- 
mergeier's egg. I found two Lammergeiers' nests, both 
with young birds, but I got an addled egg which I was able 
to blow. I had no shooting, though I made an attempt to 
get a shot at a stag, but there was so much snow in the 



248 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

mountains that the Turks would not take pack-ponies in for 
fear of getting snowed up." 

On August nth we were all at Swythamley again enjoy- 
ing the hospitality of Sir Philip Brocklehurst and having 
some very excellent shooting. One day we shot the park 
and killed 1170 rabbits, and a notice of this event given in 
the " Field," as 585I brace of grouse, a good bag, indeed, for 
Staffordshire, was a statement so far from the truth that we 
easily traced it to the old squire's love of nonsense. 

Having some time at his disposal in September, Selous 
resolved to take a short run out to Sardinia for the purpose 
of adding specimens of the Mouflon to his collection. Most 
of the English hunters who have killed this very sporting 
little sheep have pursued it in March, at which time of year 
the Mouflon are mostly hidden in the tall " Maquia " scrub 
{Erica arhorea), where they are difficult both to find and to 
stalk. Someone, however, had given Selous the hint that 
if he went to Sardinia in late September he would see the 
sheep on the open hills, when they would probably afford 
much better sport. This was quite true, but unfortunately 
for the hunter the autumn of 1902 was one of the wettest 
on record, and Selous, after the first few days of good weather, 
when he killed three fair rams, lived for a fortnight in pouring 
rain and discomfort in a leaky tent, and had eventually to 
give up the chase in disgust. He came back, however, with 
a high admiration for the intellectual abilities of the little 
Mouflon, and resolved at some future date once again to 
visit the " elevated farmyard, "^ as someone has termed these 
mountains of "the Isle of Unrest." 

On November 17th he left on his first trip to British East 
Africa, taking the German boat at Marseilles to Mombasa. 
As this trip was somewhat experimental he made no large 
plans and merely wished to get a few specimens of the common 
species of mammals found there. This he hoped to do by 
making short trips in the neighbourhood of the line. At 



^ On the hills of Genna Gentu, the principal home of the Mouflon in 
Sardinia, the native shepherds allow their cattle and herds of sheep and 
goats to graze amongst the wild sheep and this constant disturbance 
keeps all creatures constantly on the move. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 249 

this time, even so near civilization, British East Africa was 
truly a big game paradise. 

Writing to Abel Chapman concerning this, Selous says :— 

" My trip to East Africa last year (1902-1903) cost me 
just ;^30o, but I think I did it cheaper than most people. I 
got fairly good heads of Coke's, Neumann's, and Jackson's 
Hartebeests, Topis, Impala, Bushbucks, Oribis, Steinbucks, 
and Cavendish's Dik-diks. I did not get a Jackson's Wilde- 
beest as, although there were thousands all along the line 
when I went up country, when I came back to try to get 
one, they had migrated south. I saw lots of Common and 
Defassa Water bucks, but no good heads, so never shot one. 
Also hundreds of Elands. I did not actually see a Rhino., 
but often got quite fresh spoor ; but I did not want to 
shoot one of these animals as I have good specimens from 
South Africa." 

He reached home in March, 1903, and the spring of this 
year was, as usual, spent in egg -collecting. He writes, 
June 30th : — 

" I have just finished my egg-collecting season. I got a 
Dotterel's nest on the top of Ben Wyvis, also a couple of 
Ptarmigans' nests, which are difficult to find. I got too 
several nests of Grasshopper Warbler, Wood Wren, and 
Pied Flycatcher in Northumberland, but I had a very good 
local man to help me." 

The year 1904 was a very busy one for Selous, and the 
following letter to me gives some idea of his energy in 
hunting for the eggs of birds of which he has not yet taken 
specimens. 

" During the last few days I have been marking King- 
fishers' nests on the Thames and Water Rails' nests in 
Thatcham Marsh, for Major Stirling (of Fairburn), who has 
been very kind to me in Scotland and helped me to get all 
sorts of good eggs. I have got him two Kingfishers' nests 
marked that I am sure have eggs in them, and also two 
Water Rails' nests. One of these had six eggs in it yester- 
day. We go to Wargrave for the Kingfishers to-morrow, 
and to Thatcham for the Water Rails on Thursday. On 
Friday I am off to North Wales, where I hope to get a 



250 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Chough's nest. During the first half of May I shall be here, 
and will come over to see you during that time. On May 
15th I start for Ross-shire, to get Crossbills, and then on to 
Orkney to get eggs of Hen Harrier, Short -cared Owl, Twite, 
etc. On May 26th I must be at Ravcnglass, in Cumberland, 
to get a couple of clutches of Sandwich Tenis' eggs (by per- 
mission), and the next day on the Tyne for Pied Flycatchers, 
Grasshopper Warblers, etc. Then back to Orkney early in 
June for Merlins, Black Guillemot, Eider Duck, etc. Then 
1 think I shall try for a Scoter's nest near Melvick, in 
Sutherlandshire, and I wind up the season with a trip to 
St. Kilda with Musters to get eggs of Fork-tailed Petrel 
and Fulmar. Are there any old orchards about you ? If 
so, we might look them over for a Hawfinch's nest about 
May loth. I am not going to lend any of my heads to the 
Crystal Palace people. They wrote to me alDout it, but I 
have declined to send them any heads." ^ 

Later in the year he wrote one of his characteristic letters, 
speaking of his successes in egg -hunting and expressing his 
sorrow at the death of our mutual friend. Sir Philip Brockle- 
hurst : — 

" I am now home again from my egg-collecting trip to the 
north. I have had a fairly successful season. I got two 
Choughs' nests in North Wales in April, and several Water 
Rails' near here in a nice little swamp I know of. In Orkney 
I got Hen Harrier, Short -eared Owl, Merlin, Eider Duck, 
Dunlin, Golden Plover, Rock Pipit, and Twite. I have also 
taken this year in Northumberland and Cumberland nests of 
Wood Wren, Grasshopper Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Great 
Spotted Woodpecker, Sandwich Tern, and Shell Duck. Now^ 
I want a nest of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. There are a 
few about here, but I cannot find out where they nest. I am 
going to the Crystal Palace to-morrow, and shall see your 
Caribou heads there 1 hope. Now 1 want you to help me. 
I am President of our village cricket -club, and have got 
together a team to play them on July 9th (Saturday). I 
am experiencing gxeat difficulty in getting an eleven to- 

^ Later he was persuaded to lend his heads for the exhibition, but few- 
visitors saw the collection. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 251 

get her. Will you help me and play for me on that day ? 
If so, please come here in time for lunch. We do not play 
till 2.30 p.m. Now can you come ? Do, if you can, and 
bring another man with you. Please let me know about 
this as soon as possible, as I must now begin to hustle to get 
my team together. Isn't it sad to think that poor old Sir 
Philip Brocklehurst has gone ? If we ever go to Swythamley 
again, things can never be as they were in the old Squire's 
time. I feel his loss very much. If you are at home now I 
should like to come over and see you and have our usual 
' crack,' my dear Johnny." 
Just before leaving for Canada on July 14th he writes : — 
" What with people coming to see us here, garden-parties, 
cricket, political meetings, etc., there seems to be no time 
for anything. I hope you will have a good time Whale- 
hunting in August in the Shetland Isles. Write us a good 
account of it and make some good pictures." 

Leaving England on July 14th, 1904, Selous reached 
Dawson City, on the Yukon, on August 8th. He went via 
Vancouver, and much enjoyed the pleasant voyage up the 
North Pacific coast, which abounds in islands and forests, 
and in scenic effect is much superior to Norway, which it 
resembles. Here he joined a party of sportsmen who 
had chartered a flat -bottomed steamer to take them up the 
north fork of the MacMillan river, a branch of the Yukon. 
There was, however, a delay of ten days, and as Selous could 
not endure inactivity he spent the time, with the help of a 
half-breed Indian and a pack-horse, in the Ogilvy Mountains, 
where he found and killed a male caribou of the variety 
which I have recently described under the name of Tarandus 
rangifer ogilvyensis, one of the many sub-specific races of 
reindeer of the North American Continent as yet somewhat 
imperfectly known. Selous then returned to Dawson, and 
the hunting party being assembled on the little steamer, a 
start up-stream was made on August 21st. After proceeding 
some distance up the Yukon, the Pelly, and then the Mac- 
Millan for five days through shallow and tortuous channels, 
the steamer could go no further. At Slate Creek two 
Americans, Professor Osgood the Zoologist, and Carl Rungius 



252 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the artist of mammals, left to establish a hunting-camp there, 
whilst Seloiis and his friend, Mr. Charles Sheldon, a well- 
known hunter and field naturalist, passed up the north fork 
of the MacMillan, the rest of the party going up the south 
fork. Selous soon killed a moose cow for meat, and in a few 
da};^ Sheldon, reconnoitring up in the mountains, found 
a good camping-place on the edge of timber-line, so Selous 
and his friend then left the canoes and carried their heavy 
packs up the mountain. Whilst doing so Louis Cardinal, the 
half-breed hunter, spied a bull moose lying in the scrub, and 
Selous soon worked down to it and killed it at short range. 
Sheldon's chief object of pursuit was the wild sheep of these 
ranges, Ovis fannini, whilst Selous' was to obtain good 
moose and caribou, and, if possible, grizzly bears and sheep. 

In the first two days Selous killed a fine caribou bull of 
the sub-specific race Tarandus rangifer osborni, a fine form 
of reindeer that exists from the Itcha Mountains in British 
Columbia to the east of the Kenai Peninsula. This variety, 
which is only found west of the Rocky Mountains, intergrades 
to the south with Tarandus rangifer monfanus of southern 
British Columbia, and to the north-west with Tarandus 
rangifer stonei of the Kenai peninsula. It is by far the 
finest of the American caribou, with the exception of the 
nearly extinct race, a branch of Tarandus rangifer labrador- 
cnsis, which belongs to the north-east corner of Labrador, 
and carries fine massive horns from 50 to 61 inches long, 
but not furnished as a rule with many points, ^ Selous 
was much cheered in getting so easily two fine specimens 
of this great deer at once. One night in the middle of 
September a fine display of the Aurora Borealis with its 
magnificent tongues of flame was observed, and Selous 
rightly says, " I count these splendours of the Arctic sky as 
amongst the most marvellous of all the wonders of the 
world," an opinion all who have seen them will endorse. 

In the next few days Selous killed another bull moose, 
but not a large one, canying a head with a span of 50 inches, 

^ I was so fortunate as to kill one of these caribou in the Tanzilla 
Mountains on the borders of Alaska, \vith fifty-three points, in 1908, but 
this was quite an exceptional head oi an unusual type. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 253 

and then an old bull with horns evidently going back. At 
last dawned a day of great good fortune, for the hunter 
met and killed a great bull whose horns have seldom been 
equalled by any taken out of the Yukon Territory. The 
horns, measuring 67 inches across, a width not often sur- 
passed even in the Kenai peninsula, were very massive, and 
carried 41 points ; the skull and horns weighed over 75 lbs. 
" Altogether," he says, " it seemed to me I had at last 
obtained a trophy worth a king's ransom," for to a hunter 
such as he no bag of gold or diamonds would have seemed 
more precious. 

Meanwhile his friend, Charles Sheldon, had not been so 
fortunate as he usually was in finding the big sheep rams, 
and had only shot a few immatures and females and young 
for the extensive collection he afterwards formed for 
American museums, and, as the season was now late and 
the prospect of the " freeze up " imminent, the two hunters 
abandoned their himting-camp and started down-stream 
on the return home. After some disappointments, one in 
which Sheldon lost a fine bull moose owing to a missfire, 
Selous and his companion reached Plateau Mountain, 
where Osgood and Rungius, who had enjoyed some good 
sport with moose and caribou, were again met. The whole 
party then went down -stream, and had some difficulty in 
getting through the ice which was now forming, but reached 
Selkirk safely on October 7th. On the whole this had been 
a very successful trip for Selous, but he was a little dis- 
appointed in not getting sheep, grizzly, and black bears. 
His own account of the whole trip is as follows : — 
" My dear Johnny, — Just a line to tell you that I got home 
again from the Yukon country yesterday (November 7th). 
I shall have a lot to tell you about it when we meet. The 
original trip that I was invited to join fell through, as 
neither the governor of the Yukon Territory was able to go 
nor my friend Tyrrel who invited me to join the party. 
There was a lot of delay, and eventually three Canadians, 
three Americans, and myself hired a small fiat-bottomed 
steamer to take us up the Pelly and|MacMillan rivers. This 
took much longer than was expected, and it was not till 



254 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

August 30th that we got to the furthest point to which the 
steamer could take us. Then we all split up, and an American 
(Charles Sheldon, an awfully good fellow, whom I hope I 
shall be able to bring over to see you one of these days) and 
myself (we had chummed up on the steamer) tackled the 
north fork of the MacMillan river. We had each a twenty -foot 
canoe and one man. My man was a French half-breed, 
and Sheldon's a white man, both first-rate fellows. We had 
a very ' tough ' time getting the canoes up the river, as the 
stream was fearfully strong and the water very cold. We 
were in the water most of every day for six days, often up 
to our waists, hauling the canoes up with ropes. Then we 
reached the foot of a big range of mountains. The day wc 
left the steamer bad weather set in and we had 18 days of 
filthy weather, sleet and snow, and the whole country 
covered v/ith snow. On September the 6th or 7th we packed 
up into the mountains, carrying everything on our backs 
to close up to timber-line (about 5000 feet in this northern 
country, the point where we left the timber being about 
2500 feet above sea-level). No Indians to pack, no guides, 
no nothing, and damned little game either, though we were 
in an absolutely new country, where there are no Indians 
at all, and only four trappers in the whole district, and these 
men never go up into the high mountains. There were 
any quantity of beavers up the north fork of the Mac- 
Millan. The trappers have not yet touched them and they 
are wonderfully tame. We could find no sheep rams in the 
mountains, only small flocks of ewes and kids. Moose after 
September i8th were fairly numerous, but by no means 
plentiful. I only saw three caribou, one a very good bull, 
whose head will, I think, interest you. I believe it is the 
kind that Merriam calls Osborn's caribou, a very large heavy 
animal, with horns rather of the Barren Ground type, but 
finely palmated at the top. I shot four bull moose and 
spared two more. One of my moose has a right royal head, 
and pays me well for all my trouble. The spread across the 
palms, with no straggly points, is 67 inches, and it has 41 
points (234-18). My second best head measures 58 J inches 
across the palms, with 22 points (i i f 11) . I boxed my heads 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 255 

in Vancouver, and hope to get them some time next month, 
and you must come and see them as soon as they are set up." 

In the autumn of 1905 he went on his third trip to New- 
foundland, in order to see something more of the interior of 
the island and to shoot a few caribou. The country he now 
selected was that in the neighbourhood of King George IV 
Lake, a district that had only previously been visited by two 
white men, Cormack, its discoverer, in 1822, and Howley in 
1875. This is not a difficult country to reach, as canoes 
can be taken the whole way, and there are no bad " runs " 
or long portages. The autumn of 1905 was, however, 
perhaps the wettest on record, and it poured with rain every 
day, whilst, as to the caribou stags, they carried the poorest 
horns in any season, owing to the severity of the previous 
winter. In this trip, in which he was accompanied by two 
excellent Newfoundlanders, Joseph Geange and Samuel 
Smart, Selous saw large numbers of caribou, but did not 
obtain a single good head, and though he enjoyed the 
journey, the trophies killed were somewhat disappointing, 
and especially so as he had broken into quite new country. 1 

Selous' own account, in a letter to me, November 22nd, 
is as follows : — 

" By the time you get this letter I shall be at home again, 
or at any rate in London. I have to commence my lecturing 
on December 4th, but if I can get a spare day before then 
I will come over and see you. My experience in Newfound- 
land was much the same as yours. I saw a lot of caribou, 
but no very large heads. I had, too, terribly bad weather, 
almost continuous rain and sleet storms on the high ground 
near George IV Lake. By-the-bye, Mr. Howley tells me 
that to the best of his belief I am the third white man who 
has visited that lake. The first was Cormack, who named 
it a long time ago, and the second Mr. Howley, who was there 
in 1875. The caribou in the country between King George's 
Lake and the head of the Victoria river live there. I saw 

^ This year I was hunting in the Gander forests about 75 miles south- 
east of King George IV Lake and saw an immense number of caribou 
stags, but only one with a first-class head, a 35-pointer, which I was 
fortunate enough to Idll. Later in the season I saw most of the heads 
killed in the island and there was not a good one amongst them. 



256 TTIE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

non-travelling deer there, all the herds were stationary, 
feeding or lying down in one spot all day long. Lots of 
trees too along the river, where the stags had cleaned their 
horns. Packing in from Lloyd's river to the north-west, I 
struck some splendid caribou-ground. Here the deer were 
all on migration southwards. As a matter of fact, I did 
very little systematic hunting, but a lot of tramping, always 
carrying a 40 lb. pack myself. I have got one very pretty 
head of 36 points, very regular and symmetrical, but not 
large. In a storm of driving sleet it looked magnificent on 
the living stag. I have another head I like, and some others 
of lesser merit, one of them for the Natural History Museum. 
I have preserved a complete animal for them." 



^h. I 



v^- 



,1 S^\f^l 









X*., 



=^r 







CHAPTER XI 

1906-1907 

IN April, 1906, Selous went all the way to Bosnia just 
to take the nest and eggs of the Nutcracker, and those 
who are not naturalists can scarcely understand such 
excessive enthusiasm. This little piece of wandering, how- 
ever, seemed only an incentive to further restlessness, which 
he himself admits, and he was off again on July 12th to 
Western America for another hunt in the forests, this time 
on the South Fork of the MacMillan river. On August 5th 
he started from Whitehorse on the Yukon on his long 
canoe -journey down the river, for he wished to save 
the expense of taking the steamer to the mouth of 
the Pelly. He was accompanied by Charles Coghlan, 
who had been with him the previous year, and 
Roderick Thomas, a hard-bitten old traveller of the 
North-West. Selous found no difficulty in shooting the 
rapids on the Yukon, and had a pleasant trip in fine weather 
to Fort Selkirk, where he entered the Pelly on August 9th. 
Here he was lucky enough to kill a cow moose, and thus had 
an abundance of meat to take him on the long up-stream 
journey to the MacMillan mountains, which could only be 
effected by poling and towing. On August i8th he killed a 
lynx. At last, on August 28th, he reached a point on the 
South Fork of the MacMillan, where it became necessary to 
leave the canoe and pack provisions and outfit up to timber- 
line. Here almost immediately he killed a cow caribou for 
meat, and a comfortable camp was soon made. During the 
following days Selous hunted far and wide, and found that 
Osborn's caribou was as plentiful in these ranges as his 
friends in the previous year had found them. He killed six 
s 2S7 



258 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

splendid bulls, one of which is now to be seen, mounted 
whole, in the Natural History Museum, and in a short time 
got all the specimens he wanted. One day he saw a large 
black animal, which he took to be a bear, coming towards 
him, and eventually killed it at a distance of 400 yards. It 
proved to be a black variety of the wolf — a somewhat rare 
animal to kill with the rifle, and curiously enough he killed 
another a few days later. 

Before leaving the mountains he shot a good bull moose 
and missed another, whilst going down-stream, at 30 yards. 
A second shot, however, killed the animal, and gave the 
hunter another fine specimen with horns 63 inches across. 
Selous reached Selkirk on September 20th, and so had no 
difficulty in getting out before the ice formed. 

As soon as he got home he wrote to me telling of the 
results of his trip, and I give it as showing the sympathetic 
nature of his disposition for the sorrows of others : — 

" The first part of your letter awoke afresh all my 
sympathy for you and poor Mrs. Millais in your sorrow 
for the loss of your dearly beloved child. I suppose you can 
never hope to forget what you once possessed and can never 
have again, nor would you wish to do so ; but time is 
merciful, and whilst never forgetting the sweetness of 
disposition of your dear child, the sorrow for her loss will 
gradually hurt you less and less. At least I trust it will be 
so. I am so glad to hear that you have got such a splendid 
lot of caribou heads this year. You well deserve them, for 
you have taken a lot of trouble to get them. You must now 
have quite a unique collection of Newfoundland caribou 
heads. I got one good moose this year 63I inches spread 
(measured by Mr. Burlace the other day) and another pretty 
head of 52 inches spread. Besides these two I only saw one 
other bull moose — a fair-sized head. I saw a good many 
caribou, but no large heads. Every big bull I saw seemed 
to have a well-grown head. On August 29th I saw a single 
old bull and shot him. The next day I saw another bull 
with ten cows and shot him. These heads were both in 
velvet, but fully grown out and the velvet just ready to 
peel off. On September ist I saw another single bull and 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 259 

shot him ; and on the following day got another close to 
camp. Both these bulls had their horns quite clean of 
velvet, not a shred left on any part. I then went away to 
another range of mountains to look for sheep and moose, 
returning again to the caribou-ground about the middle of 
September. On my first day I came across four splendid 
old bulls all together. They all had big heads, and I got 
close to them and could have shot them all, but I let two of 
them go after killing the other two, which seemed to me to 
have the finest horns. Whilst I was skinning the animals I 
had shot (with my half-breed Indian) three more big bulls 
and a hornless cow came and lay down on a knoll about 
400 yards away. One of these seemed to have very large 
horns ; but I thought that six was enough, so I let them 
alone. I think three or four of the heads I have got are 
pretty good, but much better no doubt could be got if one 
waited till they got into large herds after the rutting season. 
Burlace makes my longest head 57|- inches, another is 
55 inches, and two others just over 51 and 50. Two of 
them have an inside spread of 48 inches. One head is of 
quite a different type to the other five. It is only about 
40 inches long and very like a Newfoundland head with 
beautiful tops. Besides the caribou and moose I only got 
two wolves — very fine ones, and one of them black. I saw 
no bears at all, and only female sheep. I am going away 
on Saturday, December ist, lecturing (with a two days' 
interlude at Beville Stanier's), and shall not be home again 
from Scotland till December 15th. On December 17th I 
go away again till the 20th ; but after that I shall be at home 
for a long time. Let me know when you get your heads 
home, and I will then come over to look at them, and you 
must come and see my Yukon heads as soon as I get them 
from Ward's." 

In May, 1907, he went to Asia Minor to take the eggs of 
sea and raptorial birds, living on or near the Mediterranean 
coasts. 

In June he wrote : "I was very pleased to see the letter 
you wrote to the ' Field ' about poor Arthur Neumann. I 
had thought of writing something myself, but did not know 



26o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

him as well as you did. I shall never cease to regret his loss. 
I look upon him as the last of the real genuine hunters of 
African big game." 

Arthur Neumann, the celebrated elephant - hunter, was 
born at Hockliffe Rectory, in Bedfordshire, in 1850. In 
1868 he went to Natal and later to Swaziland, and acted as 
interpreter during the Zulu war in 1879. From 1885-1887 
he hunted much in South Africa, and after a time went to 
East Africa, where he helped to survey the line from the 
coast to Lake Victoria Nyanza. After another visit to 
South Africa he made his first journey after elephants to 
the East of Mount Kenia and killed large numbers of bull 
elephants. 

In 1896 he was badly injured by a cow elephant, and 
returned to Mombasa in October, 1896. In 1899 he took 
part in the second Boer war, and in 1902 returned to East 
Africa and had another successful hunt, getting some 
immense tusks. 

In 1903-1904, hunting in Turkana, Turkwel and the 
Lorian swamp, he killed many elephants, and made his last 
expedition in 1905-1906, when his ivory realized £4500 on 
sale in London. He was a pioneer like Selous, and wherever 
he went made a favourable impression on the native — 
helping greatly to advance our hold on British East Africa. 
He died suddenly in 1907. 

In August, 1907, Selous went on a little hunt after 
reindeer in Norway, as the guest of his old friend. Captain 
P. B. Vanderbyl, a hunter who has had perhaps as great a 
general experience of big game hunting as any man living. 
In this trip Selous shot five good stags in seven days' 
hunting, but was not so fortunate as to get a first-class 
specimen, although some of his heads were good. Of this 
trip Captain Vanderbyl kindly sends me the following note : 

" Although friends of many years' standing, Selous and I 
only did one shooting -trip together, and that was after 
Reindeer in Norway. We sailed from Hull to Stavanger in 
August, 1907, and marched in with pack-ponies a few miles 
from the head of the Stavanger Fjord to Lyseheien, where 
a small shooting-box had been recently erected. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 261 

*' Owing to a five years' close season which had just termi- 
nated we found the reindeer fairly numerous, and not too 
difficult to approach, but as they always feed up-wind, and 
cover a lot of ground, we had some days to walk long 
distances before spj^ing any. 

" We arrived at Lyseheien a few days before the opening 
of the season, and spent the time walking after ryper, of 
which we used to get 12 or 15 brace a day, and although 
Selous was never a good shot with the gun, he showed the 
same keenness after the birds as he did for any form of sport. 
He had to leave Norway a few days before I did, in order 
to see his boys before they returned to school. 

" We were quite successful on this trip, and secured thir- 
teen stags between us, with some good heads among them. 
When not hunting, we beguiled the time with some French 
novels Selous produced, and I never knew of his liking for 
this kind of literature before. 

" We both enjoyed the trip thoroughly, and were surprised 
to find so wild and unfrequented a hunting ground within 
about three days journey of London." 

During this season I was camped on the highest part of 
the range, some thirty miles to the north. A heavy snow- 
storm, lasting for six days, occurred on September ist, and 
drove all the deer south-west to Lyseheien, which accounted 
in some measure for the excellent sport enj oyed by my friends. 

Reindeer are at all times subject to these sudden local 
migrations, and the very uncertainty of the sport makes it 
somewhat fascinating and difficult. In Norway it is now 
difficult to secure a good reindeer head for this reason, and 
the fact that indiscriminate poaching, even on what is 
called strictly preserved ground, prevails. 

During the winter of 1907 and early in the following year 
Selous devoted himself to finishing his book " African 
Nature Notes and Reminiscences " (published by MacmiUan 
& Co. in 1908), a work which he wrote principally at the 
instigation of his friend, Theodore Roosevelt. In this he 
devotes the first two chapters to his views on protective 
coloration and the influence of environment on living 
organisms. For lucidity and accuracy of treatment he 



262 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

never wrote anything better or more clearly discounted the 
views of theoretical naturalists. It is a model of conclusive 
argument backed by sound data. Commenting on his 
remarks ex-President Roosevelt thus gives his opinions on 
the subject (November ist, 1912) : — 

"It is a misfortune that in England and America the 
naturalists should at the moment have gotten into an 
absolutely fossilized condition of mind about such things as 
protective coloration. Both the Enghsh and the American 
scientific periodicals are under the control of men like 
Professor Poulton and others who treat certain zoological 
dogmas from a purely fetichistic standpoint, exactly as if 
they were mediaeval theologians. This is especially true of 
their attitude toward the doctrine of natural selection, and 
incidentally toward protective coloration. There is much in 
natural selection ; there is much in protective coloration. 
But neither can be used to one-twentieth the extent that the 
neo-Darwinians, such as Mr. Wallace and the rest, have used 
them ; indeed these neo-Darwinians have actually confused 
the doctrine of natural selection with the doctrine of evolution 
itself. 

" Heller is coming home soon. He has just written me 
from Berlin, where he saw our friend Matzchie who, you 
doubtless remember, has spUt up the African buffalo into 
some twenty different species, based on different curves of 
the horns. Matzchie told Heller that he had read my 
statement that of the four bulls I shot feeding together near 
the Nairobi Falls, the horns, according to Matzchie' s theory, 
showed that there were at least two and perhaps three 
different species (among these four bulls from the same herd). 
Well, Matzchie absolutely announces that doubtless there 
were two species among them, because the locaUty is on the 
border-line between two distinct types of buffalo, that of 
Kenia and that of the Athi ! I think this is one of the most 
dehghtful examples of the mania for species-splitting that 
I have ever seen. On the same basis Matzchie might just 
as well divide the African buffalo into a hundred species as 
into twenty ; and as for the elephant he could make a new 
species for every hundred square miles. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 263 

"Apparently your 'African Nature Notes ' was ' hoodooed' 
by my introduction and the dedication to me ; but I cannot 
help hoping that you will now publish a book giving your 
experiences in East Africa and up the White Nile. Without 
the handicap of my introduction, I think it would do well ! 
Seriously, the trouble with your ' African Nature Notes ' is 
that.it is too good. The ideal hunting-book ought not to be 
a simple record of slaughter ; it ought to be good from the 
literary standpoint and good from the standpoint of the 
outdoor naturalist as well as from the standpoint of the big 
game hunter. Stigand's books fulfil both the latter re- 
quirements, but he has not your power to write well and 
interestingly, and he has a rather morbid modesty or self- 
consciousness which makes him unable to tell simply and 
as a matter of course the really absorbingly interesting 
personal adventures with which he has met. Unfortu- 
nately, however, the average closet naturalist usually 
wants to read an utterly dry Httle book by some closet 
writer, and does not feel as if a book by a non-professional 
was worth reading — for instance, I was interested in 
London to find two or three of my scientific friends, who 
knew nothing whatever about protective coloration in the 
field, incHned to take a rather sniffy view of your absolutely 
sound and, in the real sense, absolutely scientific, statement 
of the case. On the other hand, the average man who 
reads hunting-books is too apt to care for nothing at all but 
the actual account of the hunting or of the travelling, 
because he himself knows no more about the game than the 
old Dutch and South African hunters whom you described 
used to know about the different ' species ' of lion and black 
rhinoceros. Nevertheless I am sure that your ' African 
Nature Notes ' will last permanently as one of the best 
books that any big game hunter and out-of-doors naturalist 
has ever written. Charles Sheldon was saying exactly this 
to me the other day. By the way, I hope he will soon write 
something about his experiences in Alaska. They are well 
worth writing about. I am much irritated because Shiras, 
some of whose pictures I once sent you, will not make any 
use of his extraordinary mass of notes and photographs of 



264 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

American wild game and the rarer creatures of the American 
forests and mountains. 

" I am sending you herewith a rather long pamphlet I 
have published on the subject of protective coloration. 
Thayer answered the appendix to my ' African Game 
Trails,' in a popular Science Monthly article, re-stating and 
amplifying his absurdities. Men like Professor Poulton 
treat him with great seriousness, and indeed Professor 
Poulton is himself an extremist on this subject. I thought 
it would be worth while going into the subject more at 
length, and accordingly did so in the bulletin of the American 
Museum of Natural History, and I send you a copy. I shall 
also send one to Stigand. Do write me about your ex- 
periences." 

Roosevelt was in a measure responsible for this excellent 
book, and it was due to his encouragement that Selous 
undertook its publication. He sent it in parts to his friend, 
who thus summarizes the author's literary style : — 

" I have been delighted with all the pieces you sent me, 
and have read and re-read them all. Do go on with your 
lion article. I earnestly wish you would now write a book 
describing a natural history of big game. You are the only 
man alive, so far as I know, who could do it. Take S.'s 
book, for instance, which you sent me. It is an excellent 
book in its way, but really it is only a kind of guide-book. 
The sole contribution to natural history which it contains 
is that about the wolves and the big sheep. But you have 
the most extraordinary power of seeing things with minute 
accuracy of detail, and then the equally necessary power to 
describe vividly and accurately what you have seen. I read 
S.'s book, and I have not the slightest idea how the sheep or 
the ibex or the deer look ; but after reading your articles I 
can see the lions, not snarling but growling, with their lips 
covering their teeth, looking from side to side as one of 
them seeks to find what had hurt it, or throwing up its tail 
stiff in the air as it comes galloping forward in the charge. 
I can see the actual struggle as the lion kUls a big ox or cow 
buffalo. I can see the buffalo bulls trotting forward, stupid 
and fierce -looking, but not dangerous unless molested, while 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 265 

they gaze from under their brow-armour of horn at the first 
white man they have ever seen. I can see wild hounds, with 
their ears pricked forward, leaping up above the grass to see 
what had shot at the buffalo they were chasing. 

" I was immensely interested in your description of these 
same wild hounds. And what a lesson you incidentally give 
as to the wisdom of refraining from dogmatizing about 
things that observers see differently. That experience of 
yours about running into the pack of wild hounds, which, 
nevertheless, as you point out, often run down antelopes 
that no horse can run down, is most extraordinary. I am 
equally struck by what you say as to the men who have run 
down cheetahs on horseback. Judging from what Sir 
Samuel Baker saw for instance, cheetahs must be able to 
go at least two feet to a horse's one for half a mile or so. 
I wonder if it is not possible that the men who succeeded 
in running them down were able to get a clear chase of two 
or three miles so as to wind them. If different observers had 
recorded the two sets of facts you give as to the speed of 
the wild hounds under different conditions, a great many 
people would have jumped to the conclusion that one of 
the two observers, whose stories seemed mutually contra- 
dictory, must have been telling what was not so. 

" Let me thank you again for the real pleasure you have 
given me by sending me these articles. Now do go on and 
write that book. Buxton and I and a great many other 
men can write ordinary books of trips in which we kill a few 
sheep or goat or bear or elk or deer ; but nobody can write 
the natural history of big game as you can," 

Selous' intimacy with the President was of that charming 
character which unfortunately we now only associate with 
early Victorian days. They wrote real letters to one another 
of that heart-to-heart nature which only two men absorbed 
in similar tastes, and actuated by a similar intellectual 
outlook, can send as tributes of mind to mind. Such letters 
are ever a joy to the recipient ; but once Selous seems to 
have over-expressed his concern, when the President was 
attacked and wounded by a would-be assassin. The answer 
is both characteristic and amusing. 



266 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" My dear Selous, I could not help being a little amused 
by your statement that my ' magnificent behaviour, splen- 
did pluck and great constitutional strength have made a 
great impression.' Come, come, old elephant -hunter and 
lion-hunter ! Down at the bottom of your heart you must 
have a better perspective of my behaviour after being shot. 
Modern civilisation, indeed, I suppose all civilization is 
rather soft ; and I suppose the average political orator, or 
indeed the average sedentary broker or banker or business -man 
or professional man, especially if elderly, is much overcome 
by being shot or meeting with some other similar accident, 
and feels very sorry for himself and thinks he has met with 
an unparalleled misfortune ; but the average soldier or 
sailor in a campaign or battle, even the average miner or 
deep-sea fisherman or fireman or policeman, and of course 
the average hunter of dangerous game, would treat both my 
accident and my behaviour after the accident as entirely 
matter of course. It was nothing like as nerve-shattering 
as your expeiience with the elephant that nearly got you, 
or as your experience with more than one lion and more than 
one buffalo. The injury itself was not as serious as your 
injury the time that old four-bore gun was loaded twice over 
by mistake ; and as other injuries you received in the 
hunting-field." 



CHAPTER XII 
1908-1913 

ON March 20th, 1908, President Roosevelt wrote to 
I Selous and announced his intention of taking a 
long holiday in Africa as soon as his Presidency of 
the United States came to an end, and asked Selous to help 
him. So from this date until the following March, Selous 
busied himself in making all the preparations and arrange- 
ments of a trip the success of which was of the greatest possible 
delight to Roosevelt and his son Kermit, and advantage to 
the American museums of Natural History, which benefited 
by the gift of a magnificent series of the East African and 
Nile Fauna. 1 Selous threw himself into the task with 
characteristic energy, with the result that the President 
had the very best advice and help. Roosevelt was at first 
adverse to taking a white man as caravan -manager, but 
Selous overruled this and proved the wisdom of employing 
such men as Cuninghame and Judd (for a short period), who 
are by far the most experienced hunters in East Africa, for 
Roosevelt and his son had then nothing to do but hunt and 
enjoy themselves, whilst all the burden of camp -arrange- 
ments was taken off their shoulders. Writing on November 
9th, 1908, Roosevelt expresses his gratitude, and in his 
letter gives some insight into his policy of the " employment 
of the fit." 

" Perhaps you remember the walk we took down Rock 
Creek, climbing along the sides of the Creek. On Saturday 

^ The collection of Birds and Mammals made by the Roosevelt expedi- 
tion is now for the most part in the American Museum of Natural History 
at New York and at Washington. It is probably the best collection ever 
made by one expedition in Africa, and the book which the President wrote 
— " African Game Trails " — will always remain one of the best works of 
reference on the subject. 

267 



268 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

I took fifty officers of the general staff and War College on 
that same walk, because I thought the older ones might need 
a little waking up. I was rather pleased to find that they 
all went pretty well, even when we waded the Creek where 
it was up to our armpits, and climbed the cliffs. My dear 
Selous, it does not seem to me that I would have taken this 
trip (to Africa) without your advice and aid, and I can 
never begin to thank you for all you have done." 

President Roosevelt was also delighted with the prospect 
that he would have Selous' company in his forthcoming 
voyage to Africa. Writing December 28th, 1908, he says : — 

" Three cheers ! I am simply overjoyed that you are 
going out. It is just the last touch to make everything 
perfect. But you must leave me one lion somewhere ! I 
do not care whether it has a black mane or yellow mane, or 
male or female, so long as it is a lion ; and I do not reaUy 
expect to get one anyhow.^ I count upon seeing you on 
April 5th at Naples. It makes all the difference m the world 
to me that you are going, and I simply must get to Mac- 
Millan's during part of the time that you are there. 

" I have written Sir Alfred Pease that I shall leave 
Mombasa just as soon as I can after reaching there ; go 
straight to Nairobi, stay there as short a time as possible, 
and then go direct to his ranch. I particularly wish to 
avoid going on any hunting - trip immediately around 
Nairobi or in the neighbourhood of the railroad, for that 
would be to invite reporters and photographers to accom- 
pany me, and in short, it would mean just what I am most 
anxious to avoid. 

" Do let me repeat how delighted I am that you are to be 
with me on the steamer, and I do hope we will now and then 
meet during the time you are in British East Africa. I 
should esteem it an honour and a favour if you would 
accompany me for any part of my trip that you are able, 
as my guest." 

No doubt to regular African hunters it is far better and 

^ President Roosevelt realised his hopes. In two days, between Sir 
Alfred Pease's farm and the railway (Kapiti Plains), he and his son Kermit 
killed seven lions. They also killed several others in the Sotik. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 269 

more enjoyable that they should pursue their wanderings 
unaccompanied by a white guide, but to any man, however 
experienced in other lands, success in Africa in a " first 
trip " certainly depends much on the local knowledge of 
the white hunter who accompanies the expedition, if 
expense is no object. A man may know all about hunting 
elsewhere, yet would make the most egregious mistakes in 
Africa, and perhaps never see the animals he most wishes 
to possess if he went only accompanied by a black shikari, 
so Selous made a point of insisting that Roosevelt should 
have the best local guidance at his command. Thus he 
writes to Sir Alfred Pease, who was then resident in East 
Africa : — 

" September 26th, 1908. 
" My dear Sir Alfred, 

" Since I received your letter I have heard again 
from President Roosevelt. He tells me that he has heard 
from Mr. Buxton, ^ and that Mr. Buxton thinks that he 
ought not to engage a white man to manage his caravan. 
He quotes me the following passage from Mr. Buxton's 
letter : ' If you wish to taste the sweets of the wilderness, 
leave the Cook tourist element behind, and trust to the 
native, who will serve a good master faithfully, and whom 
you can change if not up to your standard.' The President 
then goes on to say that he is puzzled ; but that his own 
judgment now ' leans very strongly ' towards engaging a 
white man, and as I know that several men who have 
recently travelled in East Africa have also strongly advised 
him to do so, I feel sure that he will decide to engage Judd 
or a man named Cuninghame, who has also been strongly 
recommended to him. I must confess that I fail to follow 
Mr. Buxton's argument. The objection to being a Cook's 
tourist is, I always thought, because one does not like to 
be one of a crowd with many of whom you may be entirely 
out of sympathy, and how on earth the fact that he had a 
white man to look after all the details of his caravan, instead 

1 Mr. Edward North Buxton also did much to help the President in 
his forthcoming trip. 



270 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

of a native headman, would give his trip the flavour of a 
Cook's tour, or prevent him in any way from tasting the 
sweets of the wilderness, I entirely fail to understand. 
Rather, I think, it would enhance the sweetness and enjoy- 
ment of his trip by relieving him of all the troublesome 
worries connected with the management of a large caravan. 
First of all, I believe that both Judd and Cuninghame would 
have a wider knowledge of the whole of East Africa than 
any native headman. The President would say, * Now I 
want to go to the Gwas N'yiro river, where Neumann used 
to hunt, or to the country to the north of Mount Elgon, or 
to the country where Patterson saw all those rhinoceroses, 
giraffes and other game last year.' His manager would then 
work out the amount of provisions it would be necessary to 
take for such a trip, the number of porters necessary, 
engage those porters, and in fact make all the necessary 
arrangements to carry out the President's wishes. He 
would then arrange the loads, attend to the feeding of the 
porters, the pitching of camp every evening, and give out 
stores to the cook, and generally take all the petty details 
of the management of a caravan off the President's hands. 
As regards hunting, the manager of the caravan would 
never go out with the President unless he asked him to do 
so. He, the President, would go out hunting with his 
Somali shikari, a staunch Masai or other native to carry 
his second rifle, and natives to carry the meat and trophies 
of any animal shot. Of course, if when going after lions, 
elephants or buffaloes, he would like to have his white 
manager with him, all well and good, and it would be an 
advantage if such a man was an experienced hunter and a 
steady, staunch fellow who could be depended on in an 
emergency. Now, as I have said before, I feel sure that the 
President will finally decide to engage either Judd or 
Cuninghame, and the question is which is the better of 
those two men. I know neither of them — for although I 
seem to have met Cuninghame years ago, I do not remember 
him. I never heard of Judd until Bulpett spoke to me about 
him, nor of Cuninghame, until the President wrote and told 
me that Captain and Mrs. Saunderson had strongly advised 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 271 

him to engage him. He was also ad\dsed to engage Cuning- 
hame by an American who was lately in East Africa, and 
now I have just got a letter from Cuninghame himself, a copy 
of which I enclose you to read. Please return it to me as I 
have sent the original to the President and asked him to 
get Mr. Akeley's opinion. As soon as I received this letter 
from Cuninghame, I went to London and saw Mr. Claude 
Tritton. He (Mr. Tritton) told me he knew both Judd and 
Cuninghame well, and thought them both thoroughly 
competent men. What do you think about it ? Do you 
know Cuninghame, or can you find out anything as to the 
relative value of these two men — Judd and Cuninghame ? 
MacMillan evidently knows both of them, and he is coming 
home in a month or six weeks' time. I have written all this 
to the President, and asked him to wait until we find out 
more about the two men ; but suggesting that should he 
finally decide to engage either Judd or Cuninghame, leaving 
it to us to decide which was the better man, we should wait 
to hear MacMillan's opinion, but then write and engage 
one or the other, and ask him to pick out himself the best 
Somali shikaris, gun-carriers and special native headmen, 
whom he could have ready by a given date (this is your 
suggestion, and I think an excellent one, as probably both 
Judd and Cuninghame know some good and reliable men 
and have had them with them on hunting -trips). In the 
meantime I told the President that I would answer Cuning- 
hame 's letter, in a strictly non-committal way, but telling 
him that I would write again in a couple of months' time, 
and that he might be wanted to manage the President's 
early trips. Let me know what you think of all this. I am 
now convinced that the President will take either Judd or 
Cuninghame with him. My arguments may have had some 
weight with him, for I am strongly in favour of his doing 
so, but other people have also given him the same advice. 
On the other hand, he has heard Mr. Buxton's arguments 
on the other side, and he may decide to be guided by them. 
But Mr. Buxton's views are, I think, not generally held by 
men who have travelled extensively in Africa, and I think 
the President will finally decide to engage either Judd or 



272 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Ciininghame, and if so we must try and ensure his getting 
the best man. I trust that the weather is now somewhat 
better in Scotland, and that you have had some good sport. 
" BeHeve me, 

" Yours very truly, 

" F. C. Selous. 

" P.S, — As Cuninghame is now starting on a trip which 
will last three or four months, he will be back at Nairobi 
early next month, and if engaged by the President, would 
then have plenty of time to look out for Somalis, and other 
picked natives, before the President's arrival in Africa." 

Selous himself went on the hunt in East Africa with his 
friend, W. N. MacMillan, who was resident in East Africa. 
He left England on April ist, 1909. Just before starting, 
he gives his ideas on the prospects of hunting in the rainy 
season. 

" My dear Johnny, 

" Just a line to bid you good-bye before I start for East 
Africa. I would have written to you long ago, but I have 
been continually looking forward to coming over to see you 
before I left England ; but the bad weather has always 
prevented me from doing so. I am going out to East Africa 
at the very worst time of year, as heavy rains have still to 
come in May and June. The consequence will be that when 
I get there the whole country will be smothered in long 
grass, just as it was when I was in East Africa last, game 
will be very scattered, and there will be a very small chance 
of getting a lion. I would never have entertained the idea 
of going at this season but for the fact that I am going out 
as the guest of Mr. MacMillan (who has a large ranch near 
Nairobi), and my expenses will be very small. It just came 
to this, that I had to go now — as President Roosevelt 
wanted me to meet him at Naples and travel with him to 
Nairobi — or not at all ; but I don't look forward to much 
success, and the risk of getting fever is always very much 
greater when hunting in the rainy season, than in dry 
weather. Very heavy rains have been falling this season all 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 273 

over North and South Rhodesia, and in British Central 
Africa, as well as in East Africa. Every trip I have made 
during the last few years has been marred by rain. My last 
trip to East Africa was very much spoilt by rain and long 
grass, then the trip to Sardinia, as well as the last ones to 
Yukon and Newfoundland, were much spoilt by rain. I 
hope that you have now quite recovered from the effects of 
the pleurisy you caught last year in British Columbia. Are 
you going anywhere this year I wonder ? " 

Selous' first trip with MacMillan was successful in his 
getting several new species for his collection, but what he 
most wanted was a good black-maned lion. He was, how- 
ever, unsuccessful in this. Mr. Williams, a member of his 
party, found three lions one day and killed two of them 
somewhat easily. The third charged and seized the unfortu- 
nate hunter by the leg, severely biting him. His life, how- 
ever, was saved by the bravery of his Swahili gun-bearer, 
who gave the lion a fatal shot as it stood over his master. 
Mr. Williams was carried to hospital in Nairobi, where he 
lay between life and death for some tim.e, and then com- 
pletely recovered. 

At the beginning of September, 1910, the Second Inter- 
national Congress of Field Sports was held at Vienna in 
connection with the Exhibition. The First Congress met 
at Paris in 1907, when the British delegate was Lord 
Montagu of Beaulieu, while, at Vienna, Selous was appointed 
by Sir Edward Grey, then Secretary of State for Foreign 
Affairs, as the official delegate from this country. The 
Congress was divided into three separate sections, dealing 
respectively with the Economic Importance, the Science 
and Practice, and the Legislation of Field Sports. The 
meetings of these three sections were held simultaneously, 
and the British delegate confined his attention to Section 
III (Legislation). In this section he was instnimental, with 
the cordial support of his French colleague, Comte Justinien 
Clary, President of the St. Hubert Club ^^ of France, in 
securing the passing of an important resolution in favour 
of the International Protection of Migrating Birds (especially 
the quail and woodcock). 



274 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

At the Exhibition Great Britain was represented by a 
very fair collection of Big Game heads, Selous sending 
his best Koodoo, Wart Hog, White Rhinoceros, and Alaskan 
Moose, all exceptional specimens. 

Selous was delighted with all he saw of the Great Hunting 
Exhibition, by far the finest of its kind ever offered to the 
public. I had hoped to meet him there, as I was going to 
hunt in Galicia, but found he had left for home. After 
describing the exhibition he wrote to me : — 

" Warburton Pike wishes me to tell you that he will show 
you round the Exhibition. The Hungarian, Austrian and 
old German stags' heads are simply wonderful, but there 
are so many that it is bewildering. Weidmann's Heil." 

Warburton Pike, here mentioned, was a splendid specimen 
of an Englishman, who was to British Colum.bia and Arctic 
Canada what Selous himself was to Africa. In his person 
existed a type of pioneer as modest as courageous. His 
travels and privations in the Arctic barren grounds made 
him known to most people in Canada, whilst his unselfish 
devotion and unfailing kindness to his fellow colonists 
endeared him to thousands of " voyageurs " who battled with 
the forces of Nature in the far North-West. He had a little 
mine amongst the Jack pines above Dease Lake where he 
lived, in the four working months, chiefly on tea, game and 
" flapjacks." Here he wrested from a refractory soil 
about as much gold as would have satisfied a Chinaman. 
Nevertheless, he toiled on year after year, because he had 
faith and the grit that bites deep even when common sense 
says, " Is it good enough ? ' 

Every spring saw " Pikey " full of hope, dragging his canoe 
with two Indians up the rain-drenched valley of the Stikine 
for 200 miles, and then on with pack-horses to his mine, 
another loo miles, and every fall he raced downward to the 
sea, disappointed, but undefeated. When people met him 
in Vancouver, they would say, " How goes it, Pikey ? " 
Then his kind face would light up. " Splendid," he would 
rep'y, though he had hardly enough money to buy bread 
and butter. 

Yet no one ever appealed to Warburton Pike in vain, for 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 275 

on the rare occasions when he had a httle money he invari- 
ably gave it away to his less fortunate friends. Every 
wastrel and miner on the Pacific slope knew " Pikey " and 
asked his advice and help, which was ever forthcoming, and 
in the eyes of the colonists he was the man who embodied 
the type of all that was best. 

From Vancouver to the Yukon and from St. Michaels to 
the Mackenzie, the name of Warburton Pike was one to 
conjure with, and though comparatively unknown in 
England, his noble spirit will never be forgotten in the 
homes of all those who knew and loved him. Like all good 
men, he came to England in 1914, to play his part in the 
Great War, and I think it broke his heart when he found no 
one would employ him. He suffered a nervous breakdown, 
and in a fit of depression he took his own life in the summer 
of 1916. He published a few books, among which the best- 
known is " Through the Sub- Arctic Forest." 

Selous had long cherished a desire to add to his great 
collection of African trophies a specimen of the Giant 
Eland of the Lower Sudan. An expedition for this purpose, 
however, without outside aid would have been to him too 
expensive a trip, so he made certain arrangements with 
Lord Rothschild and the British Museum which helped to 
alleviate the financial strain. After this had been success- 
fully effected, he left on January 19th, 1911, Thus he writes 
of his plans on the ove of departure : — 

" My dear Johnny, 

" Just a line in frightful haste to thank you for your 
kind letter and all your good wishes. If I am successful in 
finding the Elands, I fear I shall not be able to get a head for 
my own collection, as if I get permission to shoot more than 
those I want for the N.H. Museum, I must get a specimen 
for Rothschild, who will give me £70 for it, and I don't think 
they will let me get one for Rothschild and another for 
myself in addition to those I want for the Museum. I have, 
however, first to find the Elands and then shoot and preserve 
them, and to do the latter all by myself, with only raw 
savages to help me will be a hard job in the climate of the 



276 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Lado, where I am going to look for my game. I shall probably 
be more sure of finding the Elands to the south of Wau, in 
the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province, but the journey there would 
be much more expensive, and my means are very limited. 
I hope to get a free passage from Khartoum to Lado in the 
Government steamer I have been very much interested in 
Buxton's new Koodoo-like antelope, but what nonsense it 
is to call it a ' Mountain Inyala.' It does not resemble an 
Inyala in any way. It is of course quite a distinct species. 
I don't know if I shall- be able to get anything for myself at 
all this trip. The white-eared Kob and Mrs. Gray's Kob are 
only found near Lake No, near the unction of the Bahr-el- 
Ghazal with the Nile, but going by steamer to and back from 
Lado, the steamer does not stop there, only steams through 
their district, and there is only one steamer a month. I 
shall look forward very much to seeing your new book on 
American big game on my return from the Sudan. With 
your own illustrations it cannot fail to be a very attractive 
and interesting work. The climate of the Lado they tell 
me is bad, unhealthy, intensely hot and enervating, but 
I hope I keep pretty well, and come back all right." 

When he reached Cairo, he had an interview with Sir F. 
Wingate, to whom he had letters of introduction from Sir 
E. Grey. He then went on to Khartoum, where he met 
Mr. Butler, who was then in charge of big game matters 
connected with the Lower Sudan. Mr. Butler advised him 
to go to Mongalla, as the best and most accessible place at 
which to find the Giant Eland, since Wau had been much 
hunted, but Selous thought that the Tembera country 
would be the best, because few travellers had ever been 
there, and it could only be reached by a toilsome journey 
from the river with pack-donkeys. Accordingly he took the 
steamer going south. At Rejaf the vessel stopped to take 
in wood, and there met another steamer whose occupants 
informed him of the death of poor Phil Oberlander, who 
had just been killed by a buffalo near the village of Sheikh 
Lowala. It appears that this unfortunate fellow, who had 
just killed a fine Giant Eland at Mongalla, and was on his 
way home up the river, had stopped at a village near 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 277 

Mongalla for a day or two, to try to get a buffalo, of which 
there were some herds in the neighbourhood. He had 
landed and very soon found a good herd. His shots wounded 
a big bull, which left the herd and retreated into the thick 
bush. Oberlander at once followed, but unfortunately 
forgot to reload his heavy rifle. The usual thing happened, 
and the wounded bull charged suddenly from one flank, and 
instead of reports two clicks ensued. The bull rushed at 
Oberlander, knocked him to the ground and literally beat 
his body to a pulp. Later in the day the bull was found 
lying dead. Its head was recovered by Mr. Butler, who 
sent it to the Vienna Museum, for which Oberlander had 
collected industriously for several years. 

I first met Oberlander on the steamer going to Alaska, 
in September, 1908. He then called himself Count Ober- 
lander, a title which I believe he had no claim to. He was 
a strange creature, full of assurance, and with a very com- 
plete contempt for British and American game-laws, and 
apparently oblivious of the fact that without their institu- 
tion he would not have been able to obtain the specimens 
he so earnestly desired to capture. His one idea seemed to 
be to get specimens anyhow, and that a letter from the 
authorities of the Vienna Museum and an unlimited ex- 
penditure of cash would overcome all diihculties. In this 
he was partly right and partly wrong, for when he shot 
numerous female sheep and kids in the mountains of Cassiar 
he reckoned without the long arm of the law and the vigilance 
of the hawk-eyed Bryan Williams, our game warden in 
Vancouver, who promptly had him arrested and heavily 
fined. 

As an example of his impudence he told us the following 
story, which I afterwards found was true in aU details. 
One day in August, 1908, he went to the National Park at 
Yellowstone, and coolly informed two of the game wardens 
that he had come there to shoot a buffalo. At first the 
latter regarded the matter as a joke, but, finding he was in 
earnest, they told him that if he did not clear out they would 
confiscate his guns and arrest him. Unabashed, Oberlander 
said : 



278 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" Well, you need not get huffy. I will give you ;£25o for 
that old bull," pointing to an old patriarch within a wooden 
enclosure. The shaft, however, went home, for the game 
wardens at once reported the matter to their chief. 

Now, £250 was a very nice sum, and it was quite within 
the realms of possibility that the old bull would die a 
natural death within the next year or two and that the 
dead carcase might be worth perhaps £50. Facts, therefore, 
were facts, which seemed to appeal to the business instincts 
of the park authorities, so next day Oberlander was in- 
formed that he might shoot the buffalo as soon as his cheque 
was forthcoming. Oberlander at once handed over the 
money and killed the bull, shooting him through the bars 
of the cage, and he showed us an excellent photograph of 
this doughty deed with no little satisfaction. 

Oberlander afterwai"ds hunted in Cassiar, Mexico, East 
Africa, and the Arctic regions, before going on the expedi- 
tion up the Nile that was to prove fatal to him. In him 
the Vienna Museum lost a good friend, but he could scarcely 
be considered a good type of sportsman. 

We need not follow Selous' wanderings in the parched un- 
interesting forest country about Tembera, where for nine 
weeks, in company with a native chief named Yei, he hunted 
the small herd of Giant Elands somewhat unsuccessfully. 
At last he killed a good female, but had no luck in securing a 
big male. On March 7th he went north to Rumbek, and on 
March 28th he and Captain Tweedie went north to a small 
river and shot nine Kobs. On April 4th he again left 
Rumbek and returned south for another hunt for the 
Elands, which was again unsuccessful. On April 29th he 
arrived at the Nile and turned homewards.^ 

" I cannot pretend," writes Selous, " I enjoyed my ex- 
cursion in the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province. In the first place, 
I was unsuccessful in the main object of my journey. Then 
the deadly monotony of the landscape, the extraordinary 
scarcity of game, and the excessive heat of the climate, all 
combined to make my trip very wearisome and uninterest- 

^ Selous gave a full account of his trip in articles in the " Field," 
July-September, 191 1. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 279 

ing." He came away, however, with a very deep admira- 
tion for the gallant band of young Britons who were doing 
the work of the Empire in the wilds of Africa. 

At the end of this trying hunt he was far from well, and 
was unable to ride, so he had to tramp the whole way to 
the Nile on foot. Arrived at Rumbek the medical officer 
there discovered the cause of his ill-health, so, as soon as 
he arrived in England he saw Mr. Freyer, who recom- 
mended an operation. " I got over the operation," he 
writes to Abel Chapman, " wonderfully well, and simply 
healed up like a dog. In fact, I was the record case for 
healing up in ten years amongst Freyer's patients." I went 
to see him in a nursing home in London, and heard all about 
his Lado trip, which was rather a sore subject with him, 
but, with his usual determination, he was only full of ideas 
to go back again and make a success the next time. In 
August we both went again to Swythamley, as the guests 
of young Sir Philip Brocklehurst, and had a very pleasant 
time amongst the grouse on the Derbyshire hills. After- 
wards Selous stayed for a time in the Isle of Wight, with his 
wife and boys, and later in the autumn he travelled to Turin 
Exhibition of hunting and shooting, as one of the British 
jurors. 

Later in 191 1 Selous again left for British East Africa, to 
go on another hunt to the Gwas N'yiro river, with his 
friend MacMillan. Before leaving he wrote to President 
Roosevelt, intimating that he feared he was now too old 
for the hard work entailed by African hunting, which called 
forth the following comfortable advice (Sept. nth, 1911). 

" MacMillan lunches here Thursday. I am very glad you 
are going out with him to Africa. He is a trump ! I am 
rather amused at your saying that you will not take any 
risks with lion now, and that you do not think your eyes are 
very good. I would not trust you ! — seriously. I always 
wished to speak to you about the time that you followed 
the lioness which crouched in a bush, and then so nearly 
got Judd, who was riding after you. I think you were 
taking more of a chance on that occasion than you ought to 
have taken. It is not as if you had never killed a lion, and 



28o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

were willing to take any chance to get your first specimen. 
That I could quite understand. But you have killed a 
great many, and you ought not to do as poor George Grey 
did last year, and get caught through acting with needless 
recklessness.^ I know you will not pay any heed to this 
advice, and, doubtless, you regard me as over-cautious 
with wild beasts, but, my dear fellow, at your age and with 
your past, and with your chance of doing good work in the 
present and future, I honestly do not think you ought to 
take these risks unless there is some point in doing so. 

" You say you are too old for such a trip as that with 
MacMillan. Nonsense ! It is precisely the kind of trip 
which you ought to take. Why, I, who am far less hardy 
and fit, would like nothing better than to be along with you 
and MacMillan on that trip. But you ought not to take 
such a trip as that you took on the Bahr-el-Ghazal. It 
would have meant nothing to you thirty years ago ; it 
would mean nothing to Kermit now ; but you are nearly 
sixty years old, and though I suppose there is no other 
man of sixty who is physically as fit as you, still it is idle to 
suppose that you can now do what you did when you were 
in the twenties. Of course I never was physically fit in the 
sense that you were, but still I was a man of fair hardihood, 
and able to hold my own reasonably well in my younger 
days ; but when I went to Africa I realized perfectly well, 
although I was only fift}^ that I was no longer fit to do the 
things I had done, and I deliberately set myself to the work 
of supplying the place of the prowess I had lost by making 
use of all that the years had brought in the way of gain to 
offset it. That is, I exercised what I think I can truth- 
fully say was much intelligence and foresight in planning 
the trip. I made it for a great scientific National museum 
(which was itself backed by private capital), and made it 
at the time when the fact that I had been President gave 
me such prestige that the things were done for me which 
ought to have been done, but were not done, for you last 

' George Grey, brother of Lord Grey of Falloden, an excellent hunter 
and charming personality. He was killed by a lion on Sir Alfred Pease's 
estate in 1910. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 281 

spring. Then I took along Kermit, who, in the case of the 
bongo and koodoo and Northern Sable, was able to supply 
the qualities that I once had had and now lacked. In con- 
sequence, while everything was done to make my trip 
successful and comparatively easy, I am yet entitled to 
claim the modest credit that is imphed in saying that I 
took advantage of the opportunities thus generously given 
me, and that I planned the trip carefully, and used the 
resources that my past had given me, in the way of notoriety 
or reputation, to add somewhat to ray sum of achievement. 
On your trip you also had genuine bad luck, and the trip 
was not long enough, and the opportunities were not suffi- 
ciently numerous, to allow the good and bad luck to even 
up, as they will on such a long trip as mine. For instance, it 
was simply luck in my case that got me some of my game ; 
but then it was simply luck, also, that I did not get some 
other things ; and so it about evened up, 

" My own physical limitations at the moment come 
chiefly from a perfectly commonplace but exasperating 
ailment — rheumatism. It not only cripples me a good deal, 
so that I am unable to climb on or off a horse with any 
speed, but it also prevents my keeping in condition. I 
cannot take any long walks, and therefore cannot keep in 
shape ; but I am sufficiently fortunate to have a great many 
interests, and I am afraid, sufficiently lazy also thoroughly 
to enjoy being at home ; and I shall be entirely happy if I 
never leave Sagamore again for any length of time. I have 
work which is congenial and honourable, although not of 
any special importance, and if I can keep it for the next 
seven or eight years, my youngest son will have graduated 
from college, so that all the children will be swimming for 
themselves, and then I am content not to try to earn any 
more money. 

" Fond though I am of hunting and of the wilderness 
and of natural history, it has not been to me quite the 
passion that it has been to you, and though I would give 
a great deal to repeat in some way or some fashion, say in 
Central Asia or in Farther India, or in another part of Africa, 
the trip I made last year, I know perfectly well that I 



282 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

cannot do it ; and I do not particularly care for smaller 
trips. If it were not for our infernal newspaper-men, I 
should go off for a week or two this fall bear-hunting in the 
Louisiana cane-brakes ; but I know I should be pestered 
out of my life by the newspaper-men, who would reallydestroy 
all my pleasure in what I was doing. I have found that I 
have to get really far off in the wilderness in order to get rid 
of them, even now, when I am no longer a person of public 
prominence. I never cared for the fishing-rod or the shot- 
gun, and I cannot afford to keep hunters. But you, my 
dear fellow, are still hardy, and you can still do much. I 
have never understood why your ' African Nature Notes ' 
did not have a greater financial success. It is a book which 
will last permanently, and will, I am sure, have an ever- 
increasing meed of appreciation. I reread it all last winter, 
and Sheldon, as I think I told you, mentioned to me the 
other day that he regarded it as the best book of the kind 
that had ever been written. 

" Kermit is, at the moment, in New Brunswick getting 
moose, caribou, and beaver for the National Museum. I 
think I told you that he got four sheep, three of them for 
the Museum, on his recent trip into the Mexican desert. 
He made it just as you have made so many of your trips, 
that is, he got two Mexicans and two small pack-mules, and 
travelled without a tent, and with one spare pair of shoes 
and one spare pair of socks as his sole luggage. Once they 
nearly got into an ugly scrape through failure to find a 
water-hole, for it is a dangerous country. Kermit found 
that he could outlast in walking and in enduring thirst, not 
only the Mexicans but the American prospectors whom he 
once or twice met." 

The reference in his letter to the lioness " which crouched 
in a bush, and then so nearly got Judd," refers to an in- 
cident that happened in the Gwas N'yiro bush in Selous' 
former hunt with MacMillan (1909), and this little adventure 
was related to me by William Judd himself. It appears that 
Selous and Judd were out together one day and disturbed 
two lionesses, which disappeared in thick forest. Selous 
at once galloped after them and outdistanced Judd, who 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 283 

came somewhat slowly cantering behind, as he did not wish 
to interfere with Selous. All at once, from the side of the 
path, Judd saw a great yellow body come high in the air 
from the side of the game-trail. He had no time even to 
raise his rifle from the position across the saddle-pommel, 
but just cocked it up across and pulled the trigger. One of 
the lionesses, for such it was, had apparently crouched and 
allowed Selous to pass, and had then hurled herself upon 
the second hunter. By a fine piece of judgment, or a happy 
fluke, Judd's bullet went through the lioness's eye and 
landed her dead at his feet. His horse swerved. He fell 
off, and found himself standing beside the dead body of his 
adversary. Selous then returned, and was astonished to find 
Judd standing over the dead animal in the path he had so 
lately passed. I saw the skin of this lioness in Judd's house, 
near Nairobi, in 1913, and noticed the little bullet hole over 
the eye. If the missile had gone an inch higher it is doubtful 
if the hunter would have escaped with his life, or at any rate 
without a severe mauling. 

After the trip with MacMillan, 1911-1912, Selous writes 
(June 23rd, 1913) :— 

" My dear Johnny, — I wonder where you are and what you 
are doing. Some one told me the other day that you were 
going to Africa on a shooting-trip this year. I had quite an 
interesting time with MacMillan, and got a few nice things 
to add to my collection. I got three nice Lesser Koodoos 
on the lower Gwas N'yiro river as well as Gerenuks, good 
Beisa, and Impala — though nothing exceptional — very 
good specimens of the small races of Grant's Gazelle — 
notata and Brighti — Greyv's zebra, the reticulated giraffe, 
a good bushbuck, a striped hyena, two buffalo bulls, and a 
lot of Dik-diks (of two distinct species and, I think, possibly 
three). I don't know whether you have seen two letters of 
mine in the ' Field '^ for June 8th and 15th, but if you have, 
you will have read my account of a rather interesting ex- 
perience I had with a lion. This was the only lion I actually 

^ Selous, like all other good sportsmen, cherished a waxm appreciation 
for the " Field" newspaper. Mr. J. E. Harting, the Natural History and 
Shooting Editor, was an old and much valued friend. 



284 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

fired at, though I saw four Honesses one day, and tracked a 
Hon and lioness on another occasion for a long distance and 
got close to them, but, owing to the thickness of the bush, 
could not see them. That was the trouble on the lower 
Gwas N'yiro river. The bush was so frightfully thick along 
the river, and outside, too, very often, that it required 
great luck to get a lion in the daytime, and they would not 
come to baits at night. The bush was simply awful for 
buffaloes. Let me know what you are doing and I will try 
and come over to see you one of these days." 

Selous seems to have been unusually unlucky on the few 
occasions he met with lions in the Gwas N'yiro bush. On 
March 2nd, 1912, he suddenly came face to face with a big 
lion, but as soon as it saw him, it dived into the forest and was 
immediately lost to view. On another occasion he wounded 
a pallah buck, which a lion then killed, and death was so 
recent that Selous sat over "the kill " and waited. The 
lion came and stood within twenty-five yards of the hunter, 
who fired two shots at it, and although assured that it was 
severely wounded he never recovered the body.^ 

The most exciting incident, however, of this trip was the 
killing of what he calls " My Last Buffalo." Near the river 
he found the tracks of two old buffalo bulls, which he 
followed industriously for six miles. At last he obtained a 
snap shot and hit one of the bulls badly through the lungs. 
After following the wounded animal a short distance, he 
suddenly heard the unmistakable grunts which always pre- 
cede a charge. The next instant the buffalo was on us, 
coming over the edge of the gully with nose outstretched, 
half a ton of bone and muscle driven at tremendous speed 
by the very excusable rage and fury of a brave and deter- 
mined animal. . . . When I fired, the muzzle of my rifle must 
have been within three yards of the buffalo." The buffalo 
fell to the shot, the vertebrae of the neck being struck, and 
as he fell struck Elani the Somali. 

" He only received this one terrific blow, though he was 
pushed to the bottom of the gully — only a few yards — in 
front of the buffalo's knees and right under its nose, but 

^ See " The Field," June 8th, 1912. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 285 

my bullet had for a moment partially paralysed it, I got 
another cartridge into the chamber of my rifle as quickly 
as possible, and, turning to the buffalo, somehow got a 
second bullet into its hind-quarters, which brought it down 
altogether. When I was again ready to fire, the buffalo was 
on its knees, with its hind-legs doubled in under it, in the 
bed of the gully a few yards below me, and Elani was under 
its great neck between its nose and its chest, with one arm 
outstretched and his right hand on the buffalo's shoulder, 
so that I had to shoot carefully for fear of hitting it. 

" Elani then pushed himself with his feet free of the 
buffalo, whilst I stood where I was, ready to put in another 
shot if necessary, and it was, for the brave and determined 
bull partially recovered from the shocks its nervous system 
had received, though the mists of death were already in its 
eyes." Another bullet finished this gallant old bull. Elani 
the Somali was little the worse for his severe handling. 

Selous spent the autumn of 19 12 quietly at home or 
shooting with friends. 

Writing to Chapman, September 26th, 1912, he says : 
" Don't worry about our visit to Hexham the other day. 
We got through the time quite easily. I can always pass an 
hour or two reading, very comfortably, but what I dislike 
more than anything else in English life is the crowds of 
people everywhere. . . . The crowds spoil all the pleasure of 
going to a cricket- or football-match or a theatre. It is 
always such a trouble getting away. I am already longing 
to be in Africa again. If only Mrs. Selous would be happy 
there, I would rather live in East Africa than in this country." 

His mother^ was still alive at Longford House, Gloucester, 
but getting old and feeble. He visited her in December, 
1912. On December 7th, 1912, he was in Devonshire, 
shooting pheasants at MacMillan's place. " We got two 
fine daj^s' shooting," he writes to Chapman, " but at the 
best, pheasant shooting is a very inferior sport to the 
pursuit of the grouse and the blackcock on the wild free 
moors of Northumberland. May I live to renew my ac- 
quaintance with them next year." 

^ She died peacefully in 191 3. 



286 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Never did the spring come round but it always filled 
Selous with new delight, and then he used to write me long 
letters of the arrival of the birds and the advent of the early 
flowers. His joy was great when the Wrynecks took to his 
nesting-boxes in the garden, the Long-eared Owls nested 
in the woods close by, or the rare Dartford Warbler was seen 
again in its old haunts. Thus, on April 15th, he says : — 

" I was very disappointed not to see you yesterday, as I 
was looking forward to a good crack with you. I have not 
yet heard the cuckoo, but the cuckoo's mate has been here 
in the garden since April 2nd. There are several pairs of 
snipe on Whitmoor Common (just below Worplesdon village) 
this year. They are now in full ' bleat.' There are also a 
number of Redshanks, the first I have ever seen here." 

We used often to go out and look for nests in the commons, 
hedgerows, and woods at Worplesdon, and it was now a 
sorrow to him that he could no longer, owing to a slight 
deafness, recognize the notes of birds at a distance. These 
nests, when found, he never touched, as he had alreadj^ 
got specimens of the eggs of all common birds, but the J03/ 
of hunting was always present, and he never tired of watch- 
ing the habits of birds, even though he knew them well. 

In the early part of 1913, Selous made a little trip to 
Jersey and Normandy, to visit the home of his ancestors, 
in whose history he always showed a lively interest. He wrote 
a long account of this to President Roosevelt, who replied as 
follows (April 2nd, 1913) : — 

" I was greatly interested in your account of your visit 
to the home of your people in the Channel Islands, and 
then to Normandy. Of course, the Channel Islands are 
the last Httle fragment of the old Duchy of Normand3^ 
I was always pleased b}^ the way in which their people, 
when they drink the health of the King, toast him as ' The 
Duke.' It is the one fragment of the gigantic British 
Empire which owes fealty to the Ro3''al House of England 
primarily as the representative of the still older ducal line 
of Normand}^ Moreover, the people of the Channel Islands 
have always seemed to me, like the French Huguenots, to 
combine the virile virtues of the northern races with that 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 287 

quality of fineness and distinction which are far more apt 
to be found in France — at least in old France — ^than among 
our northern Teutonic peoples. 

" Indeed, those cathedrals represent the greatest archi- 
tecture this world ever saw, with the sole exception of 
Greece at its best. All that you say about the Normans 
is true. What they accomplished in government, in 
war, in conquest, in architecture, was wonderful beyond 
description. No adequate explanation of the Norman 
achievements during the eleventh and twelfth centuries 
has ever been or ever can be made. As you sa3^ 
it was their conquest of England and the Scotch low- 
lands that gave to the English their great push forward ; 
and they gave this push in many different lands. The 
handful of Norman adventurers who went to Italy fifty 
years before the conquest of England speedily conquered 
South Italy and Sicily and part of Greece, and ruled over 
Saracen, Italian and Byzantine alike. The handful of 
Norman adventurers who conquered Ireland, thereby for 
the first time brought that country into the current of 
European affairs. It was the Normans to whom we owe 
the great ' Song of Roland.' They formed principalities 
and dukedoms in the Holy Land and the Balkan Peninsula. 
They set their stamp on the whole contemporary culture of 
Western Europe, just as their kinsfolk, who, as heathens, 
conquered heathen Russia, were the first to organize the 
Slav communities of Eastern Europe. In a way, the action 
of the Normans in the eleventh and twelfth centuries (for 
by the thirteenth century their importance had vanished) 
represented the continuation, culmination, and vanishing 
of the tremendous Norse or Scandinavian movement which 
began about the year 800, and ended in the latter part of 
the eleventh century, when its Norman offshoot was at the 
zenith of its power and influence. There are many things 
about these people and their movements which are hard to 
explain. Wherever the Norsemen went, they became com- 
pletely merged with the people they conquered, and although 
they formed a ruling caste they lost all trace of their own 
language and traditions. The Norse invaders became 



288 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Sicilians in Sicily, Russians in Russia, Frenchmen in Nor- 
mandy, Irishmen in Ireland, English- and Scotchmen in 
Great Britain. They furnished kings to England, Scotland 
and Sicily, and rulers to a dozen other countries, but they 
always assimilated themselves to the conquered people, and 
their blood must always have been only a thin strain in the 
community as a whole. When the Normans came over to 
conquer England, I believe that they represented the fusion, 
not only of Scandinavians and Franks, but of the old Gallo- 
Romans, whose language they took. A great many of the 
adventurers were base-born. King William himself was the 
bastard son of a tanner's daughter. Cooks and varlets, if 
vigorous enough, founded noble families. Quantities of 
Bretons and Flemings accompanied the Normans to Eng- 
land. Their language was purely French, and their culture 
was the culture of Latin Europe. They had lost every trace 
of the Norse language, and every remembrance of Norse 
literature and history. In William's army there seems to 
be no question that any man of fighting ability came to the 
front without any regard to his ancestry, just as was true 
of the Vikings from whom the Normans were descended ; 
yet these people were certainly not only masters of war and 
government, but were more cultured, more imaginative, 
more civilized and also more enterprising and energetic, not 
only than the English but than any of the other peoples 
among whom they settled. In England two centuries and 
a half later, their tongue had practically been lost ; they 
had been completely absorbed, and were typical English- 
men, and their blood must have been but a thin thread in 
the veins of the conquerors of Cressy and Agincourt. Yet 
this thin thread made of the English something totally 
different from what they had been before, and from what 
their kinsmen, the low Dutch of the Continent, continued to 
be. It is aU absorbingly interesting." 

In the spring of 1913 Selous decided to take a hunt in 
Iceland to collect the eggs of the various northern species 
of birds, and in this I was fortunately able to be of some 
assistance to him, as I had ridden nearly 1000 miles there in 
1899, to study the bird-life of the island. WTierefore I was 







Bull Moose about to lie down. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 289 

able to give him accurate information of the various nesting- 
localities, and where each species was to be found in the 
summer months. Of only one bird, the Grey Phalarope, I 
could tell him nothing, but he and his friend, Heatley Noble, 
were so industrious that they found it breeding on the south 
coast of the island and secured eggs. 

Of this trip, Heatley Toble, an intimate and well-loved 
friend of Selous, kindly sends me the following notes : — 

" Well do I remember our first meeting, which was 
destined to prove the beginning of a close friendship of 
more than twenty years — I was working on the lawn when 
I saw a picturesque figure dressed in shooting-clothes and 
the ever-present ' sombrero ' walking towards me. Off 
came the hat and ' Good morning, sir, my name is Selous. 
I am just beginning to arrange my collection of eggs and 
was advised at the Natural History Museum to call on you, 
as they say your method of keeping a collection was 
good.' 

" How odd it seemed to me that this hero of a thousand 
hairbreadth escapes should start egg-collecting once more 
at his time of life (he was then about forty-five). I was soon 
to learn that the energy he has always thrown into his 
hunting-trips was to be given equally to this new pursuit 
— it was not really new, as he had collected as a boy at 
Rugby, and in Germany, but years spent away from home 
had seriously damaged the spoils of early days. I showed 
him my collection, and on hearing that he wanted to start 
with even the commonest species, we went off and collected 
what nests I knew. How interested I was to see the care 
with which this man, who could handle four-bore rifles as 
tooth-picks, yet retained the delicacy of touch which 
enabled him to wrap in cotton-wool such small eggs as those 
of Blue Tits and Chiffchaffs ! He told me he was off to Asia 
Minor for a few days, and then on to the plains of Hungary. 
This programme would have been sufficient for most men, 
but there were some days to spare, the season was short, so 
I recommended him to go to the Isles of Scilly ; the owner 
being an old friend, I was sure I could get him leave. He 
went, and subsequently wrote me a long letter mentioning 



290 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

all the different species he had found, which fairly made my 
mouth water ! 

" Unlike some collectors, Fred Selous, if he knew where 
a good thing was to be found, made it his delight to share 
that knowledge. Perhaps to the detriment of the species, 
but greatly to the joy of his friends. Jealousy was unknown 
to him, his pleasure was always to help others, regardless of 
trouble ; had he been to any part of the world where you had 
not, he would make it his business to give you the minutest 
details so that you could go there almost blindfold ! I 
know this from personal experience, as it was thanks to 
him I went birds '-nesting into Andalusia and Hungary, 
besides many little trips in these Isles. If he had been 
lucky with some rare species in a foreign country, he would 
press his duplicates on anyone interested, and more than 
this, it was difficult to prevent him handing out eggs he 
really could not spare. His own large collection was purely 
personal. I believe there were only some Bearded Vultures' 
eggs in it that he did not take with his own hands. These 
came from Sardinia, where he had been after Mouflon — he 
had seen the birds, but was too soon for eggs. If I found a 
nest on this property which he wanted, he would never let 
me take the eggs and send them to him, he would bicycle 
over to lunch (twenty-three miles each way) and take them 
with his own hands ! 

" I had long wished to visit Iceland on a nesting-trip, and 
in the early spring of 1913, wrote asking Selous if he would 
come. To my great joy I found that he had already 
arranged to go there, and it was soon fixed up that we 
should go together. What a glorious time we had, and how 
much I owe to his companionship, invariable good temper 
and knowledge of travel ! The ship we went out in was a 
smelly beastly thing, the weather cold, sea rough and food 
vile. The latter bothered Fred not at all, he often said he 
could live on any food that would support a human being, 
and from subsequent experience I believe he was right. He 
liked some things better than others, but anything would 
do. I only saw him beaten once ; we had had an eight -hour 
ride in vile weather, at last wc arrived at the farm where we 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 291 

were to spend the night. Fred loved meat, azid our host 
produced a plate of stuff that might have been thin slices of 
mutton. Fred attacked it, and I.-,watched developments ! 
In place of the Aldermanic smile I expected, the face con- 
tracted, the mouth opened, a sharp word escaped, and later 
on the first course of his dinner turned out to be pickled 
Guillemot of the previous season ! But to return to our 
ship. Fred didn't smoke, the rest of the company did to a 
man, rank Danish cigars, which made even a good sailor 
wish he had never left home. We were driven into the 
dining saloon, the only place where there was some peace, 
though the smell of ponies and cod took the place of vile 
cigars. Here Fred used to spend his day reading, his 
favourite book being ' Tess of the D'Urbervilles.' One day 
he complained bitterly of the light, and for the first time I 
noticed that this wonderful man was reading small print with- 
out glasses — aged, I think, sixty-three, and as long-sighted 
as anyone I ever met . All things come to an end in time, and 
after what seemed a month, and was really three days, we 
arrived at Reykjavik, starting the following day on our trip. 
The first trek was a short one, only twenty miles, but 
quite long enough for me, as next day I could hardly climb 
on the pony, whereas Selous jumped on like a boy, and 
during the whole of our journey, above 1000 miles on pony 
back, never once felt stiffness. We did well from an ornitho- 
logical point of view, finding some forty-six different kinds 
of nests, and bringing home over 1000 eggs, not one of which 
was broken, thanks mostly to the careful packing of our 
friend. Selous had the greatest objection to getting his feet 
wet unnecessarily, and when crossing those rapid rough 
rivers would take his feet out of the stirrups and somehow 
curl them up behmd him, it was a wonderful performance, 
and how he kept his balance with the pony stumbling and 
regaining his feet as only an Icelander can, fairly beat me. 
Once, when crossing an extra bad place, full of boulders and 
in a flooded condition, his pony got on the top of a flat rock 
under water ; when he went to crawl down on the other side, 
there was the inevitable hole from back -wash — down went 
the pony, the jerk pulliiig Fred over on to his ears — I 



292 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

thought he must have fallen into the boiling cauldron — 
No ; a short scramble, the pony righted himself and there 
was Fred as peaceful as ever, didn't even look round ! 
When we were safe on the far side, I said to him, ' If you 
had gone off then, you would not have stopped till you got 
to the sea.' His reply was, ' Yes, but I didn't.' 

" I was very anxious to get on to the Island of Grimsey, 
one of the European breeding places of the Little Auk. It 
is situated some sixty-five miles from Akureyri, and I was 
told motor fishing-boats went there sometimes. I told our 
guide to telephone on and find out if such a boat could be 
hired, the reply came back that a small one would be 
available. The terms were settled, and the boat was to be 
ready the following evening, to start by 9 p.m. About 
8 o'clock, we went to the quay to inspect our ship, when to 
my horror I was shown a single-cylinder thing not as large 
as a moderate Thames pleasure -launch, a free-board about 
10 inches, no cabin, no deck. I'm bound to confess my 
heart failed me, it didn't seem quite good enough to trust 
ourselves to a sixty-five mile trip in a little tub with two 
youths (one of whom had a withered hand) and a very 
doubtful looking compass ! Not so Fred, he never raised 
the least objection to a North Sea trip in a ship dependent 
on a single plug, which might become sooty any moment ! 
In due time we started, and after watching the midnight 
sun, my shipmate remarked, ' I think I shall turn in.* 
* Turn in where ? ' 'Oh, the cockpit will do.' It was full 
of rusty old chains, he could just get into it and lie curled 
up in a sort of knot on the rug, and here he passed a 
dreamless night, never moving until I called him as the boat 
touched land about 8.30 a.m. On landing, the first thing 
was to find out where the Little Auk might breed. The 
Parson told us he knew a man skilled in such matters. With 
a total population of 72 souls, 13 of which were belonging 
to the Parson, it ought not to be difficult to find the tastes 
of any unit of the congregation (especially after eighteen 
years' residence). In a short time a fisherman arrived with 
a coil of rope and a crowbar ; the latter he drove into the 
ground, tied the rope to it and heaved the end over the 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 293 

rock. Our friendly Parson then waved towards the sea, 
remarking, ' There you are, how do you like it ? The birds 
breed in the rocks at the bottom.' Honestly I did not like 
it, but Fred remarked, ' Thank you, that will do well,' and 
without another word seized the rope and was soon at the 
bottom. I had to follow, the Parson looking down from the 
top very much like the picture of Nebuchadnezzar looking 
down at Daniel in the lions' den. The Little Auk was not 
there, only Puffins inhabited that part of the island, and 
we had to regain the top as best we could. Later on we 
were shown a spot where the bird really did breed, and two 
eggs rewarded us for the long journey. We left again the 
same evening in a thick fog, Selous curling himself up once 
more on the rusty chains, and utterly oblivious to the fact 
that it was just a toss-up if our helmsman ever found the 
mainland again or not. A short time after this event we 
were resting at a farm-house, and as usual asked if the boys 
knew of any nests. One of them replied that there was a 
Merlin's nest with five eggs in some rocks a few miles from 
the farm. Off we started, and all went well until we came 
to the face of a nasty crumbling steep place . The farm-boy, 
with only a pair of shoes made from raw sheep-skin, made no 
bones about it and dashed up to the top. I was next, and 
after going up a certain distance could find no foothold and 
had to stop where I was. Selous was a little below me, and, 
when he reached my none too comfortable seat, I suggested 
that it was no place for me, and that the boy who was at 
the nest might as well bring down the eggs. This was not 
Fred's way of doing things, he simply remarked, ' I think 
I'll go a little further.' He did, right up into the nest, 
returning with the five eggs, and this too with a pair of 
long, heavy Norwegian field-boots on. I felt a proper 
weakling, but our friend never once lubbed it in by word or 
deed. Of side he had none, and the possibility of hurting 
anyone's feelings was absolutely repugnant to him always. 
During our long rides in Iceland, he told me many things 
about his life in Africa in the earlier days. How I wish I 
could have taken down the stories he related ! To hear him 
talk was like listening to someone reading a book. He was 



294 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

never at a loss for a word or the name of a place. Perhaps 
we wo\ild have been riding together in silence for some time, 
then Fred would turn round with the remark, ' Do you 
know,' he then would start and tell me something of his 
early days in Africa, what may never have been published, 
things he did for which others got the praise. I fear this 
most unselfish of men was far too often made use of. Not 
that Selous did not see through the schemes of various 
impostors ; he did, but as he would never have done a dirty 
trick to a living soul, he could not believe they would to 
him. His fondness for tea was a fine advertisement for this 
indigestible drink. He told me that in his early camping 
days in Africa, he used to throw a handful of tea in the pot 
before starting off to hunt, let it simmer all day, freshening 
it with another handful in the evening. The tea-leaves were 
never emptied ! The first time he stayed Vvith me I saw him 
making very bad weather of a glass of champagne ; on asking 
if he would prefer something else, the prompt reply came — 
' Tea.' Ever after that he was provided with his pet drink, 
and it used to interest me to see how he invariably left the 
spoon in the cup, a relic of old veldt days where manners 
were \mknown. Fred's ideas on food were different to most 
people's. One evening after a wretched eight hours' ride 
in pouring cold rain, just as we neared the farm where we 
were to rest, I said, ' How would you like to dine with 
me at the Ritz to-night ? A little clear soup, a grilled sole, 
lamb cutlets and gi"een peas, mushrooms on toast and a 
bottle of Champagne 94 ? ' ' Thanks very much, but if I 
had my choice of what I should like best, it would be good 
fat moose and tea.' 

" I think it was not generally known that Selo\is held 
strong views about what he called Psychic Force, for during 
the whole of our long friendship I only once heard him let 
himself go on this subject, and I am bound to confess that 
coming from a man like him whose every word was truth, 
anyone who heard him relate what he had seen take place 
in his own home with only his brothers and sisters present, 
could not but help owning that he was in the presence of 
something beyond his understanding. His conversation was 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 295 

always worth listening to, but like all brave men, it was 
difficult to get him to talk. If he liked those present, he 
would often delight his audience and yarn on for hours, if 
he didn't, he was civility and politeness itself, but no 
yarns ! His little sayings, without an atom of side, always 
amused me. The last time but one that I saw him when on 
leave, I remarked on his close-cropped beard. ' Yes,' he 
said, ' it looked so white in the bush, they seemed as if they 
were always shooting at it.' 

" When war broke out I had not seen him for some little 
time. I was killing rabbits in the park, and on looking up 
saw Fred. He was furious, he had hoped to be sent to 
France as a ' Guide,' but the scheme fell through, and he 
feared he would not get a job. How cross he was ! Shortly 
after I received a wire that he was coming over to lunch. 
He arrived radiant as a boy home from school, the reason 
being that he was to go to Africa with a contingent of 150 
men with the rank of lieutenant, at the age of sixty-three ! 
And yet there are conscientious shirkers who also call them- 
selves ' Englishmen.' The last time I saw him he lunched 
here on the way from Gloucester when he had been to say 
good-bye to his boy in the Flying Corps, and was just 
starting for his return to Africa. In the midst of all he had 
to do, and the rush of settling his affairs, he heard of our 
own trouble. Sitting down at once, he found time to write 
one of the most sympathetic, charming letters one pal may 
write to another. It came straight from that gi"eat heart 
which knew no fear, but loved his neighbour far better than 
himself." 

Of the trip to Iceland Selous writes to Chapman (July 
26th, 1913) : — 

" Just a line to tell you that Heatley Noble and I got back 
from Iceland a few days ago. We had a lot of cold, dis- 
agreeable weather, but got a nice lot of eggs ; indeed, 
practically everything that one can get in Iceland, except 
the Purple Sandpiper. When we got to where they were, it 
was too late, and we only found a pair with young. We got 
some eggs which were taken a fortnight earlier. We found 
the Red-necked Pharalope breeding in hundreds at Myvatn 



296 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

and other places, and we also took several clutches of Grey 
Pharalope which we found breeding in some numbers in 
two districts. We got all the Iceland ducks at and near 
Myvatn, including the Harlequin, Barrow's Golden Eye, 
Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Scoter and several others. 
Whooper Swans were plentiful in some parts of the south 
and west, but not in the north, and we saw a good many 
Great Northern Divers, and got several clutches of eggs. 
We went out to the island of Grimsey, thirty miles north of 
the north coast of Iceland and just within the Arctic circle, 
and got the eggs of the Little Auk there ; and also Snow 
Buntings, which were extraordinarily abundant on the 
island. Redwings and Mealy Redpolls we got in the birch 
scrub in the north. But I will tell you all about our trip 
when we meet. The boys came home on Wednesday, and 
we are all going to Scotland on August 9th. I don't yet 
know when the show will come on at which I shall have to 
speak, but I hope that it will not be before October. I found 
the Sandpipers' and Wheatears' eggs on my arrival home." 

In August and September he went to Scotland for the 
grouse-shooting, whicli he enjoyed, but which never seemed 
to fiU the place in his mind of Africa. He was always 
thinking of the land of sunshine, and says to Chapman 
(September 9th, 1913) : — 

" During the long waits at grouse -driving the other day, 
I was always wishing myself in the forests on the slopes of 
Mount Kenia, collecting butterflies, for there every moment 
was full of excitement. I am sorry to tell you that my dear 
old mother's health — she is now in her eighty-eighth year — 
is such that it will henceforth be impossible for me to leave 
England again on any long trip during her lifetime. She is 
not ill, but she has lost strength terribly during the last 
three months, and I do not think her life can be much 
further prolonged. So now all hope of going to the Sudan 
this winter is gone, and as at my age every year tells heavily 
against me, I doubt whether I shall ever get a giant Eland 
for the Natural History Museum." 

Abel Chapman at this time asked Selous to go with him 
to the Sudan, but Selous could not go then, as he had 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 297 

business with his mother's will, but suggested he might 
possibly join him in February, 1914, down the Nile below 
the sudd. 

In November, 1913, he went to Rugby to give a lecture, 
and to see his boy Freddy, of whom he was very proud. To 
Chapman he says : — 

" I went there yesterday (Rugby) to see the football 
match against Cheltenham College. Freddy played for 
Rugby. He has played in every out match for the school 
this term, against the Old Guard, the Oxford A, the old 
Rugbeians, and Cheltenham College, so I think he is now 
definitely in the first fifteen. As he is now only fifteen 
years of age, and will not be sixteen till April 21st next, I 
think that is rather good ; indeed, I think he must be the 
youngest boy in the school fifteen, and so may some day be 
Captain of the Rugby fifteen. He pla3'S forward, and 
weighed 11 stone 10 lbs." 

Young Fred Selous was a true son of his father, and very 
like him in many ways. He had the same charm and 
modesty of manner, and had he lived would have gone far, 
and no doubt made his mark in the world. But it was not 
to be, for he gave his life for his country on January 4th, 
1918, on the same day one year later than the death of his 
father. He was educated at Bilton Grange and Rugby, 
where he proved to be an excellent athlete, being in the 
Running VIII, and in 1915 Captain of the Rugby XV. He 
entered Sandhurst in September, 1915, and on leaving in 
April, 1916, was gazetted to the Royal East Surrey Regiment 
and attached to the R.F.C. Very soon he developed 
exceptional ability as a flying officer. In July, 1916, he went 
to the front and was awarded both the Military Cross and 
the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valour. My friend, 
Lieutenant Edward Thornton, was flying close to Freddy 
Selous on the fatal day, and states : — 

" I was up at 15,000 ft. over the German lines, when I 
saw Captain Selous take a dive at a German machine some 
2000 feet below. What actually happened I do not know, 
but all at once I saw both wings of the machine collapse, 
and he fell to the earth like a stone." 



298 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

The major commanding Freddy's squadron thus wrote 
to his bereaved mother : — 

" It is a severe blow to the squadron to lose him, for he 
was beloved by officers and men alike. In fact, his popu- 
larity extended to a much greater area than his own aero- 
drome. In the short time that I have known him I have 
been struck with the coiu^age and keenness of your son — 
always ready for his jobs, and always going about his work 
with the cheeriest and happiest of smiles. He was the life 
and soul of the mess." 

The second son of Selous and his wife is Harold Sherborne 
Selous, who will be nineteen in October, 1918. He was 
educated at Radley College, and is at present in the Officers' 
Cadet Battalion at Pirbright, and expects to take a com- 
mission shortly. 



CHAPTER XIII 

1914-1915 

IN May, 1914, Seloiis went to Texel Island, on the coast 
of Holland, where he took a few eggs and enjoyed 
watching the Ruffs, Avocets, Godwits, Turnstones, 
and Spoonbills. In June and July he was making prepara- 
tions for an expedition with his friend Abel Chapman to 
the Sudan and White Nile, with the object of collecting 
Gazelles and eventually, if possible, the Giant Eland. The 
plan was to enter via Port Sudan, shoot Ibex and Gazelles 
between that port and Khartoum and then go south in 
January, 1915, to Lake No, where Mrs. Gray's Lech we 
could be found. Selous would then leave his friend and go 
to Wau for the Elands, and afterwards to the hinterland of 
the Bahr-el-Ghazal and search for the various local races 
of Uganda Kob found there and still imperfectly known. ^ 

Other events of greater importance, however, put an 
end to this proposed trip. In August commenced the Great 
War, in which Selous at first had no thought of taking part, 
but as a succession of adverse circumstances multiplied, he 
felt that interest and responsibility in the conflict of nations 
that true men of whatever rank or station must experience. 
Foresight, common sense, and a knowledge of the great 
power of the Central Empires soon convinced him that in 
order to beat them, sooner or later we should have to enrol 
every fit man in the United Kingdom. He was not a man 
to delay once his mind was made up. The question was 
only how and where his services could be of most use. 
He understood " the bush " and " bush fighting " better 

■* The Kob of Western Bahr-el-Ghazal has whitish ears and a white area 
round the eye, which is not found in the Uganda Kob. It has been named 
by Dr. Heller, Vaughan's Kob, from a single specimen. 

299 



300 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

than most men and he resolved to try and join the forces 
fighting in East Africa. 

Soon he learned that it was probable that his friend Colonel 
DriscoU was about to organize a force, perhaps for service 
in East Africa, or even for the front in France. 

Writing to Abel Chapman on August 12th, 1914, he says : — 

" Before seeking enrolment in the Legion of Frontiersmen, 
I went to one of the biggest Life Insurance Companies in 
London and was examined by their chief medical officer, 
and I have got a splendid certificate of health. After saying 
that he found all my organs perfectly sound he goes on, 
' his heart in particular, considering the active life he has 
led, is in excellent condition. He is also remarkably active 
and muscular and in my opinion fit for service anywhere.' 
I may say that Colonel Driscoll has not yet got his authority 
from the Government to get his men together, though he 
has enrolled several thousand and is prepared to come for- 
ward at a moment's notice. I fear that there will be fright- 
ful delay, as I have good reason to believe that none of our 
troops have yet left England and the Government will 
attend to nothing until they have got all their regular 
forces to the front. However, if the war goes on for any 
time they will want all the men they can get, and I fully 
expect that the Legion of Frontiersmen will get to the front 
sooner or later, but perhaps not till the Colonial forces 
arrive in England." 

Writing on August 14th, 1914, he says : — 

" I believe this war will be a terrific business, and that 
we shall have to send something like a million of men out 
of the country before it is over, so that sooner or later I 
think I shall get into the fighting line. Freddy will not be 
old enough to volunteer until April 21st next, when he will 
be seventeen, and I fully expect that he will be wanted. 
// / should be eliminated it would not fiiatter a bit as I have 
had my day, but it would be a pity if so promising a boy 
got scuppered at the outset of his life." 

All this time he was fretting at ofiicial delays, for writing 
to Chapman, September 22nd, 1914, he betrays his im- 
patience. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 30! 

" It passes my understanding why the War Office will not 
give the order to Colonel Driscoll to take some of his men, 
who are all well disciplined and can shoot, to the front at 
once. ... I am afraid that Lord Kitchener has no inten- 
tion of employing anything in this war but regular troops. 
. . . Driscoll offered to take 1000 men to British East Africa 
to invade and take German East Africa, ^ but this offer was 
also refused." 

In October, Colonel Driscoll thought there was no chance 
of being employed. " I personally," writes Selous to Chap- 
man, October 23rd, 1914, " do not think he will ever be 
employed at all, so I determined to make an application 
direct to the War Office for service at the front with the 
Army Service Corps, or as an interpreter, or for any kind of 
work in which a good knowledge of French and some German 
might be useful. I got two letters of introduction to two 
members of Parliament who are working at the War Office 
and was sympathetically received by them. I took my 
health certificate with me. My application for service was 
submitted straight to Lord Kitchener, and I have got his 
reply from H.J. Tennant, M.P. : 'I spoke to Lord Kitchener 
to-day about you and he thought that your age was pro- 
hibitive against your employment here or at the seat of war 
in Europe.' Well, I suppose that is the end of it, for I put 
no faith in Driscoll's belief that sooner or later his services 
will be required, so I suppose that neither you nor I will be 
allowed to serve our country in this war. We are looked 
upon as useless old buffers." 

In November, 19 14, he was doing special constable at 
Pirbright and was rather depressed that he could get 
nothing better to do, and that his boy Freddy would soon 
have to go into training as a soldier. He hoped his son 
would be able to join the Egyptian Army, and have " a 
good time in the Sudan or the King's African Rifles. As I 
can do nothing that really matters, I often feel that I should 
like to go right away — say to the Belgian Congo — hunting 

^ As a matter of fact his proposition was a heavier one than the 
authorities imagined. It took a large army, working hard over a period 
of four years, before the Germans were driven out of British and German 
JLast Afiica. 



302 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

and collecting for a year. But until the war is over, or nearly 
over, I am afraid I shall not be able to leave here, as besides 
being enrolled myself as a special constable, I have now 
undertaken to do a lot of work under the ' Defence of the 
Realm ' Act. I feel it is all unnecessary fuss and bother, as 
even if a raid could be made on the East coast of England, 
no invasion could take place south of the Thames until 
the French are conquered and crushed, and the Germans 
take possession of all the Channel ports opposite our south- 
eastern shores, and further until our Navy has lost command 
of the seas. Personally I don't believe that either of these 
disasters can ever happen, so I must do what the Govern- 
ment requires. Anyhow I feel that it is a waste of energy." 
(Letter to Chapman, November nth, 1914.) 

In February, 1915, he still had hopes of going to East 
Africa with Colonel Driscoll's force, and speaks of the diffi- 
culties he had encountered in obtaining his commission in a 
letter to my wife. (February i8th, 1915.) 

" I know absolutely nothing about the ' Legion of Fron- 
tiersmen ' as far as service is concerned, but Colonel Driscoll 
has always promised me that if he was sent abroad, he would 
take me with him as ' Intelligence Officer.' After last 
September, when he offered to take 1000 or 2000 men to 
East Africa and his services were declined by the War 
Office and the Colonial Office, I tried to get a job myself 
with the Army Service Corps in France. I went to the War 
Office and saw Mr. Tennant and said that I could speak 
French, a good deal of German and make the Flemish people 
understand my South African Dutch. Mr. Tennant laid my 
application and my very excellent biU of health before Lord 
Kitchener, who wrote me the next day simply saying that 
' my age was prohibitive against giving me any employ- 
ment either here or at the seat of war in Europe.' After 
that I gave up all hope of being able to do anything and 
settled down as leader of the special constables of Pirbright, 
and also did work for the ' Defence of the Realm ' Act. In 
December, however, I got a letter from Colonel Driscoll 
saying, ' If I am ordered out — ^as is very probable — to East 
Africa, will you come with me ? ' I wired at once to say I 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 303 

would be ready at very short notice, and went to see him. 
I found that the War Office had sent for him and asked 
him how long it would take him to get together 1000 men 
for service in East Africa. He said that the War Office 
had already got 3000 men, originally enrolled in the Legion, 
who when they found that they could not be employed in a 
body had enlisted in the new army. However, he under- 
took to get 1000 men by the end of January, and I can 
vouch that he was working very hard to accomplish this, 
when he got a letter from the W. O. (who had told him to 
get on with the enlistment of the men) saying that for the 
present his services would not be required, as they were in 
communication with the Government of India as to getting 
more troops for East Africa from there. Everything seemed 
over again, but about three weeks ago, I got another letter 
from Driscoll saying, ' Are you available for service at once ? ' 
The W. O. had come to him again and asked him to get 
1000 men together by February loth. I have been helping 
him since then in getting notices in the papers, and receiving 
the names of men willing to serve in East Africa. Colonel 
Driscoll wanted and still wants to take me with him as 
Intelligence Officer, so I went last Monday to the War 
Office and saw Major Guest (who was with Major-General 
Lloyd the other day when he inspected Driscoll's men) and 
asked him about maps of German East Africa, and Major 
Guest then told me that they were not going to give Driscoll 
an Intelligence Officer. He told me that Driscoll would 
just have to put down the names of his officers and submit 
them to the W. O. for acceptance or rejection. As I told 
Major Guest, this would mean that my name would certainly 
be rejected on account of my age. I then saw Driscoll 
again, and found him very much discouraged, as he said 
that not only had the W. O. refused to allow either a signal- 
ling officer, a transport, or an intelligence officer^ on his 
strength, but they also wanted to impose some men of their 
own choosing on him as officers, whom he does not know, 
thereby obliging him to dismiss some of his company officers, 

^ This was hardly the fault of the War Office, who had already 
organized their local intelhgence officers in East Africa. 



304 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

who have served with him, and whom he does know. I 
think it quite possible that Driscoll may resign, but he 
will not do so until he has got the men the War Office want. 
As far as I am concerned I now think my chances of gomg 
to Africa with this force are small, although Major Guest 
told me that General Lloyd was in favour of letting me go. 
I know absolutely nothing about the Legion of Frontiersmen 
in this country, nor do I believe that there is the slightest 
chance of the Germans landing any force in this country, 
as long as our Navy remains in being." 

On February 4th, 19 15, he went to see Colonel Driscoll, 
who said the War Office had stretched the age-limit in his 
case, that he would take him to East Africa as Intelhgence 
Officer. " I hope I shall not prove too old for the job and 
break down," he writes. Colonel Driscoll expected to have 
two or three months' training and leave for East Africa in 
April. On March 7th, Mrs. Selous went to Havre to work 
in the Y.M.C.A. hut there. Selous then left for London. 
" It was thought that I would start for East Africa with an 
advance contingent before she left for France," but he was 
delayed, waiting for the whole regiment to go together. 
Writing to Chapman, March 21st, 1915, he says : " I under- 
stand that we are to start for East Africa next Saturday, or 
very soon afterwards. Well, good-bye, old friend. These 
troublous times will be over some day and then if we are 
still both alive and have any vitality left, we must do that 
Nile trip." 

Selous landed with his battaUon at Mombasa on May 4th, 
1915. Colonel R. Meinertzhagen gives a few particulars of 
the strange assortment of men comprising the force : — 

" The battalion (25th Royal FusiUers) concentrated at 
Kajiado soon after landing at Mombasa, when it was in- 
spected by General Tighe, then Commanding in East Africa. 
I accompanied Tighe on this inspection, and we formed a 
very high opinion of the officers and men. They were an 
unpolished lot but real good business-like men who meant 
fighting. 

" Selous was then in front of his platoon, looking very 
serious and standing strictly to attention. We recognized 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 305 

each other at once and were soon deep in the question of 
the vahdity of the Nakuru Hartebeest and the breeding 
of the Harlequin Duck in Iceland. We both forgot we were 
on parade, much to the amusement of Selous' platoon, who 
still stood rigidly to attention throughout the discussion. 

" Selous' company was indeed a mixed lot and contained 
men from the French Foreign Legion, ex-Metropolitan 
policemen, a general of the Honduras Army, lighthouse 
keepers, keepers from the Zoo, Park Lane plutocrats, music- 
hall acrobats, but none the less excellent stuff and devoted 
to their officers." 

After some delays the regiment was sent up by the 
Uganda railway to the Victoria Nyanza, where they went 
by steamer to attack the German forces on the Western 
bank of the Great Lake at Bukoba. The following notes 
are Selous' own account of these operations. 

Personal Experiences, during the Attack on and Capture of the 
Town and Wireless Installation at Bukoba, on the 
Western side of Lake Victoria Nyanza. 
It was about midnight on June 21st, 1915, or very early 
on the morning of June 22nd, that we approached an island 
in the bay of Bukoba, which, as the captain of our ship no 
doubt knew very well, and as we were to find out on the 
following day, was only about half a mile from the town, 
and the fine wireless installation close to the Lake shore. 
We had been going very slowly and quietly for some time 
before nearing the island, and the intention of our com- 
mander-in-chief may have been to land his forces in the 
dark, without the knowledge of the Germans. But the 
guard on the island were wide awake, and either heard or 
saw our steamer approaching, as they immediately sent up 
six blue Hghts, one after the other, which illuminated the 
whole island, and of course, warned the Germans in Bukoba 
that a hostile British force was about to attack the town. 
They no doubt thought that this attack would be made in 
the bay itself, under cover of the ships' guns, as we found 
later that all their trenches and block-houses along the 
shores of the bay had been manned. After the flashlights 



3o6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

had gone up, and it was evident that a surprise attack on 
the town was no longer possible, all our ships retired in the 
darkness for some little distance, but before daylight again 
approached the coast, at a point some three miles to the 
north of Bukoba, from which they were hidden by a point 
of land. We all stood to arms on the crowded decks at 
4 a.m., and silently waited for daylight. At the first streak 
of dawn, about 5.30, the disembarkation of our men (400 
of the 25th Battalion Royal FusiHers) commenced. My 
Company, A, was the first to land, a somewhat slow process, 
as the heavy row-boats only travelled very slowly and our 
ship was further than it looked from the shore. From 
within a few yards of the water's edge to the base of a 
precipitous slope, some 200 yards distant, which in places 
was a sheer cliff, some 300 or 400 feet high, the ground was 
covered with bush and large banana-plantations, amongst 
which were scattered a few large and comfortable-looking 
native huts. Had the Germans only known that we were 
going to attempt a landing at this spot and brought a 
machine-gun to the top of the cliff, or had they even lined 
the top of the cliff with riflemen, they would probably have 
been able to kill every man in the closely packed boats, 
and sunk the latter before they reached the shore. Luckily 
they did not know where we were going to land, until too 
late, for once on shore, we worked our way as quickly as 
possible through the banana-plantations, and gained the 
top of the cliff unopposed. We were only just in time, 
however, as we were soon engaged with the enemy's forces, 
which, having now become aware of our intentions, were 
rapidly advancing to meet us. The disembarkation of B, 
C, and D Companies (100 men each) of our battalion was 
now proceeding rapidly, and the advance towards the town 
commenced. ^ 

1 Note by Col. R. Meinertzhagen, Chief of Intelligence Department : — 
" This landing was really a very fine piece of work for troops who had 
had no previous experience. The Germans themselves, which we learnt 
later, thought that a landing at that particular spot was an impossible 
operation, and therefore failed to guard against it. The rapidity with 
which the Fusiliers got ashore and up a steep bush-clad escarpment gave 
the enemy no time to meet it. This initial success, which was intended as a 
covering movement for the main landing, was largely responsible for the 
capture of Bukoba." 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 307 

It is impossible for me to attempt to give any general 
idea of the whole engagement, which lasted for two days, 
and I can only tell you some of my own experiences and 
impressions. We fought in a long thin skirmishing line, 
which extended from the sea to over a mile inland, and 
slowly and gradually pushed our opponents back towards 
Bukoba, On the right of our frontiersmen were 300 men 
of the Loyal North Lancashire regiment, and somewhere — I 
believe near the sea-shore, though I must confess that I never 
saw them — was a contingent of the King's African Rifles — 
native African troops, commanded by white officers. Our 
whole force was supported by four guns of an Indian 
Mountain Battery (the 28th) and four machine-guns. The 
forces opposed to us were undoubtedly very inferior to 
ours numerically, and consisted, I think, entirely of well- 
trained and well-armed native and Arab troops, commanded 
by German commissioned and non-commissioned officers, 
and a number of German civilian sharpshooters (men 
who no doubt have done a lot of big game hunting) 
armed with sporting rifles, fitted with hair-triggers and 
telescopic sights. With these rifles they used soft-nosed 
expanding bullets.^ They had two cannons, I do not 
know of what calibre, ^ but of quite a considerable range 
and two machine-guns. But in another way our opponents 
had a very great advantage over us, as they had the benefit 
of the most splendid cover, banana-plantations, patches of 
thick bush, and bits of ground strewn with rocks, against 
which we had to advance in the open. Many bullets seemed 
to pass very close to me, whilst others were much too high. 
Several times, too, a machine-gun was turned on my platoon, 
but the range was quite 2000 yards and my men were very 
scattered, and the rocks and stones gave us good cover 
between our advances. Presently two of our own machine- 
guns came up, and searched the hill-side for the enemy's 
gun, firing all along the crest of the hill. I do not know if 
they actually put any of the German machine-gun con- 

^ In two authenticated cases a "600 Rigby cordite rifle and a Holland 
'375 were used in each case with sporting ammunition. 
2 75 millimetres or 3 inch (R. Meinertzhagen). 



3o8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

tingent out of action, but they certainly caused them to 
withdraw their gun. 

In the course of the day I had a rather curious experience. 
I was expecting to see the men of C Company on my right, 
when I suddenly saw two men dressed in khaki and wearing 
helmets amongst the rocks, less than 200 yards away 
from me on my right. There were also two or three natives 
in khaki with them. I said to Corporal Jenner, who was 
close to me, " Those must be two of our men with some of 
the native carriers," and we stepped out into the open. We 
were immediately fired on, but still I could not bring myself 
to fire back at them, and thinking that they were our own 
men and that seeing us suddenly, where they did not expect 
tny of our men to be, they had mistaken us for Germans, 
I took off my helmet and waved it to them. One of them 
at once removed his helmet and waved it back to me. I 
was just putting on my helmet again, when the Germans — 
for they were Germans — fired at me again, and then dived 
in amongst the rocks. Their bullets appeared to whistle 
very close past me, though they may not have been as near 
as they seemed. At one point a lot of the enemy whom my 
platoon had gradually forced out of the rocks had to cross 
the open valley below, but they were then a long way off, and 
though we expended a lot of ammunition on them I only 
saw one drop. We also killed one black soldier at close 
quarters in the rocks, and I have his rifle, which I shall 
keep as a souvenir. 

About 5 o'clock our whole force advanced across the 
open valley below the ridges we had taken nearly the whole 
day to clear. To do this we had to get through a swamp, 
intersected by a small river, which was much more than 
waist deep. Having negotiated this, we then took posses- 
sion of two rocks, hills from which we drove the enemy just 
before it got dark. I was standing beside a stone on the 
top of the first hill, when a bullet struck a small dead stump 
just in front of and within a yard of me. Where the bullet 
afterwards went I don't know, but it sent a large chunk of 
dead wood against my chest, and another against a man 
just behind me, which hit him in the groin. He evidently 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 309 

thought he was hit and fell to the ground with a groan. 
But he was no more hit or hurt than I was, and soon re- 
covered his composure. We had had a very hard day, 
having had nothing to eat, and not even a cup of coffee 
before leaving the ship. Provisions were to have been sent 
on shore for us, but if they were, we never got them. I had 
a hard biscuit and a lump of cheese in my pocket, but these 
were ruined in the swamp. General Stewart and his Staff 
joined us in the evening, and one of his staff gave Major 
Webb, Lieutenant Hargraves and myself each a small 
sausage. Colonel Kitchener (Lord Kitchener's brother) was 
with General Stewart's Staff, and he introduced himself to 
me, and was as nice as possible. He insisted on giving me 
a few thin biscuits which I shared with my two company 
officers. The day had been intensely hot and muggy, but 
the night was clear and there was a good moon. Colonel 
Driscoll wanted to go on and take the town by storm in 
the night ; but General Stewart thought it better to wait 
until the morning. Most of our men were, I think, very 
much exhausted, but I, I think, was in as good shape as 
any of them. I really was not tired at all. We passed a 
most uncomfortable night. ^ As soon as the dew began to 
fall it got very cold, so cold that we could not sleep at all. 
We were wet through too up to our chests. During the 
night someone set light to some native huts in the banana- 
plantation below our hill, so I took advantage of the blaze 
and went down there, and stripping stark naked dried all 
my things before going up the hill again. Whilst I was 
doing this our dead were taken past on stretchers. The 
wounded had been taken on to our hospital-ship in the 
afternoon. 

Before dawn on the morning of June 23rd, we all stood 
to arms again on the top of the hills we had occupied the 
previous evening, and very glad we all were when at last 
day broke and the long, cold, dreary, sleepless night was 
past. We had nothing to eat, and nothing to drink but the 

* " I slept under a rock near Selous that night. He was full of enthusiasm, 
and we discussed ' birds ' till far into the night, getting drenched through 
with the dew and badly bitten by mosquitoes " (R. Meinertzhagen). 



310 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

water in our water-bottles, and again commenced the day's 
work on empty stomachs. Soon after daybreak, our 
signaller brought a message to Colonel Driscoll from General 
Stewart, telling him to send an officer and twenty men 
through the bush and banana-plantations below the hill, in 
order to find out the line taken by the road (which we could 
plainly see passing below our hill and entering the planta- 
tions) through the swamps which lay between us and the 
town of I^ukoba, and then to approach as near the town as 
possible in order to ascertain what forces were defending 
it. Colonel Driscoll and Major Webb did me the honour to 
select me to lead this patrol, and I lost no time in selecting 
twenty good men of my own platoon to accompany me. 
After getting off the hill we advanced in single file along 
the road, I leading, and my men following, with intervals 
of about six paces between them. We followed the road, 
and it was somewhat jumpy work, passing along the edge 
of several banana-plantations, and patches of bush, as they 
afforded such ideal cover for sharpshooters of the type we 
had encountered on the previous day. However, there were 
none there, and we presently emerged on to an open plain 
covered with grass about two or two and a half feet high, 
and saw the road running through it straight in to the town. 
AH along the road were posts at intervals of fifty yards or 
so supporting a telegraph or telephone wire which was 
probably connected up with some fort from which we had 
compelled the enemy to retire on the previous day. 

On emerging into the open beyond the plantations at the 
foot of the hill, we were perhaps twelve or fifteen hundred 
yards from the wireless installation and the nearest houses. 
The sea-shore was perhaps half a mile to our left, and between 
us and the lake ran a reedy swamp, which we could see ran 
to witliin some 500 yards of the wireless installation and then 
curved to the right, the straight road we were on going right 
across it over a bridge. I now followed the road across the 
open ground, searching both to right and left and straight 
in front for any signs of the enemy. But we could see nothing 
and hear nothing, and I began to think that possibly Bukoba 
had been deserted during the night, and that I and my 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 311 

patrol might walk right into it unopposed. But as we 
approached the bridge over the swamp, I saw the oppor- 
tunities it offered for an ambush, and so passed the word 
down my line of men telling them to leave the road, and 
keeping their relative positions, edge off to the left, in the 
direction of the swamp. We had hardly commenced this 
movement, when we were fired on from somewhere near 
the bridge. " Down," I shouted, and my command was 
obeyed with the utmost alacrity. The bullets whistled 
past us, but no one was hit, and we then crawled through 
the grass to the swamp, and then again advanced along its 
edge until we were within about 600 yards of the wireless 
installation. Along the swamp we usually had good cover, 
but whenever I tried to reconnoitre and raised myself above 
the grass to get a good look round I was fired on, I could 
not tell exactly from where. Two or three times a machine- 
gun was turned on us, but except when trying to recon- 
noitre we were pretty safe, and the bullets really whizzed 
over us. I expected that our whole battalion would have 
received orders to advance on the town shortly after my 
patrol had shown that there were no enemy forces on this 
side of where the road crossed the swamp. But before this 
happened the enemy's gun positions were shelled both by 
the Indian Mounted Battery on the hill, and by the guns 
on our ships, which were now closing in on the Bay of 
Bukoba. The Germans returned the fire of the Mountain 
Battery most pluckily with two guns mounted on the hill 
behind the town, but did not reply to the fire of the ships' 
guns. This artillery duel had gone on for some time when 
about 9 o'clock a terrific storm burst over the area of the 
fighting, accompanied by torrential rain and partial dark- 
ness. In a few minutes my men and I, and all who were 
exposed to its violence, were soaked to the skin. The rain, 
however, was luckily, if not exactly warm, not cold and 
gave us no sense of chill. 

When the storm was over, the big guns again opened 
fire. Several hours had now passed since I left the hill on 
which our battalion had passed the night, and I wondered 
why no general advance had been made on the town. I 



312 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

did not think that it would be either wise or right to advance 
any further with only twenty men, as I knew there was a 
machine-gun in front of us, somewhere near the wireless 
installation, and it was impossible to tell what forces were 
still holding Bukoba and waiting to open fire from the 
shelter of the houses on any men advancing against it. So 
I sent one of the men with me — a South African named 
Budler — and my native boy Ramazani, with a note to 
Colonel DriscoU that there was a good line of advance to- 
wards Bukoba, along the edge of the swamp where my 
men were lying. My men met Colonel Driscoll and learnt 
from him that a general advance was in fact then taking 
place. C Company soon came up and took up their position 
a little beyond me along the reed-bed, and I learnt that 
Major Webb with the rest of A Company was advancing on 
our right, and then B and D Companies were still further to 
the right. The Adjutant, Captain WTiite, then came along 
and thought that some of us ought to cross to the further 
side of the swamp, c'his was at once done by the men of 
C Company, some of my men with myself as their leader, 
and Captain White himself. The stream in the middle of 
the swamp was quite deep and we all got wet up to our 
breasts. Just before we crossed the swamp Lieutenant 
Miles of the King's African Rifles came up with a machine- 
gun, with which he opened fire on one of the houses near the 
wireless installation, from which we thought that a German 
machine-gun had been firing at us. This proved to be right, 
but unfortunately the German gun got the range of our 
gun first, and when three of his men had been wounded, 
one very severely. Lieutenant Miles had to withdraw his 
gun into the shelter of the hollow formed by the reed-bed. 
German sharpshooters, firing from we could not tell exactly 
where, were now sending some bullets disagreeably close to 
us as we lay flat just beyond the swamp. These bullets, 
fortunately in no great number, seemed to ping past us only 
a few inches above our bodies. Presently Sergeant-Major 
Bottomly of C Company came'j across the swamp, and lay 
down alongside of me, or at least separated from me by 
just a yard, my black boy Ramazani lying between us. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 313 

but a Kttle lower down, so that his head was on a line with 
my hips. I just said a word to Bottomly, and then turned 
my head away from him again to look in the direction from 
which the bullets were coming. Almost immediately my black 
boy Ramazani touched me, and said : " Master, soldier hit, 
dead." I had never heard a sound, but turning my head 
I saw poor Bottomly lying on his back, stone dead, with a 
bullet through his head. I noticed a large signet ring on his 
right hand, as his arm hung limp across his body. His 
head and face were nearly covered by his helmet, but the 
blood was trickling down over his throat, and I knew that 
he must have been shot through the brain and killed in- 
stantaneously. 

Our ships had now crept right into the Bay of Bukoba, 
and as they fired on the town, or the enemy's gun positions, 
their shells came screaming and whistling over us. The 
machine-guns were going too with their wicked rattle, and 
bullets from snipers' rifles came with an unpleasant sound, 
sometimes apparently within a few inches of our bodies, 
which were just then pressed as close to the ground as 
possible. I thought, as I lay there only a yard away from 
the blood-stained corpse of poor Sergeant-Major Bottomly, 
listening to the peculiar noise of each kind of projectile as 
it found its invisible course through the air above and around 
me, that I could recall various half-hours of my life passed 
amidst much pleasanter surroundings. And yet what a 
small and miserable thing this was, after all, in the way of a 
battle compared with the titanic combats which have been 
taking place in Europe ever since the greatest war in history 
commenced last August. I can well understand how the 
nerves of any man, however strong, may be shaken to 
pieces, by the awful clamour of the giant shells and the 
concentrated fire of many machine-guns, and countless 
numbers of rifles, and the terrible havoc wrought by 
these fearful weapons of destruction. 

As the advance of the companies of our battalion on the 
right seemed to be very slow, and we did not know exactly 
what opposition lay in front of us, Colonel Driscoll asked 
me to call for three or four volunteers, and crawl forwards 



3t4 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

in order to make a reconnaissance. I took four men of my 
own platoon who were close to me. We had not proceeded 
far when a shot was fired at ns from somewhere to our right. 
This bullet seemed just to skim over us. We immediately 
lay flat, and wriggling to the left got shelter in a slight 
hollow of the ground. Along this hollow we advanced to 
within some three hundred yards of the house nearest to 
the wireless installation, when several shots were fired at us, 
and we could also hear talking beyond the rising ground 
to our left. We could see no sign of the enemy near the 
wireless installation, nor anywhere down the main street 
of the town, and I think that Bukoba was at that time 
already deserted, except for a few sharpshooters who were 
covering the evacuation, so I at once crawled back to make 
my report to Colonel Driscoll. On our way we passed some 
of Major Leitch's men (C Company) and on my reaching 
Colonel Driscoll and making my report, he asked me to 
collect the rest of my own men, and then took one of the four 
men with me to guide him to where Major Leitch was, as he 
wanted to speak to him. Almost immediately after I had 
parted from him, my man. Private Mucklow (from Worcester- 
shire), was shot dead alongside of Colonel Driscoll, as he had 
incautiously stood up. This, I think, was almost if not 
absolutely the last shot fired by the enemy, and no opposi- 
tion whatever was made to the advance upon, and occupa- 
tion of the town by our battaUon. I think that both their 
machine-guns had been put out of action by shells from the 
Indian Mounted Battery, but they were carried away. 
They abandoned one of their pieces of artillery, however. 
We found it with four oxen ready yoked to drag it away, 
but a shell from our battery had killed one of the oxen and 
so in their hurry the Germans abandoned the gun. The 
sappers destroyed most completely the wonderful structure 
of the wireless installation, which was something like a 
small Eiffel Tower, and nearly if not quite 200 feet high, 
with immensely strong concrete foundations. It must 
have cost a great deal of money to construct in Germany 
and then convey over so many thousands of miles of land 
and sea to the very heart of Africa all the component parts 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 315 

of this wonderful example of material civilization, but I 
suppose the destruction of this wireless installation was the 
chief object of this expedition to Bukoba. 

Immediately upon entering the town my company was 
sent on to the hill behind it to guard against any attack, and 
the men of the Loyal North Lancashire regiment presently 
worked round along the ridge of the higher hills beyond, and 
posted pickets on all points of vantage. I therefore did not 
actually witness the destruction of the wireless installation. 
Neither I nor my men had had anything to eat since the 
previous evening and very little since the evening before we 
left the ship, but we got some bananas in the plantations on 
the hillsides below us, though only a few of them were ripe. 
My men, however, brought me two fine large ones quite ripe 
and of a most delicious flavour. 

There was a sort of arsenal on the hill we were guarding, 
and this was blown up about 5 o'clock, an immense amount 
of ammunition being destroyed. The houses of the German 
residents, probably Government officials for the most part, 
were very well and comfortably built and furnished. The 
arsenal in the town was set alight and great quantities of 
ammunition and some dynamite destroyed. A good deal of 
beer and wine and provisions of various kinds was discovered 
in Bukoba, but I saw no drunkenness amongst our men. 

Just at sundown the order came from General Stewart 
that our battalion was to parade and march to the jetty 
and re-embark at once. But at first we had to bury our 
dead. A great grave was dug in the sandy soil, between the 
burning arsenal and the Governor's house, and in it were 
laid three deep the bodies of six Britons, still swathed in 
their blood-stained clothes, who had given their lives for 
King and Country, far, far away from their native land and 
all who held them dear. These men had all been killed out- 
right, but two more who had died of their wounds after 
being taken to the hospital-ship were brought ashore and 
buried within sound of the murmuring waters of the great 
inland lake. Altogether our casualties amounted to twenty ; 
8 killed and 12 wounded. The re-embarkation of our 
battalion took a very long time, and it was not till 2 a.m. 



3i6 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

on the morning of June -:4th that my company, A, at last 
got on board. Until then we had been sitting and Ijdng 
about on the jetty in onr wot clothes, without food, fire, or 
warm tea or coffee. 

Before middaj^ on the 24th our flotilla started back across 
the lake for Kisumu, which we reached on the evening of 
the 25th. The authorities had made our men intensely 
uncomfortable on board the steamer by putting a lot of 
mules on the crowded decks with them. Thej* were able to 
rest and get food at Kisumu, and about sLx o'clock on the 
evening of the 26th we started by train for Nairobi. Again 
the authorities packed our men like sardines into miserable 
third-class carriages made for natives. They could surely 
have given us two trains and so allowed our tired men a 
little space to stretch themselves. ^^> arrived at Nairobi 
at 6.30 on the evening of the 27tli, and were packed off 
again at 7 o'clock for Kajiado. One would have thought 
that as our men had come out from England to fight for 
East Africa, and that as we had just returned from a success- 
ful attack on an enemy's stronghold, and as our time of 
arrival in Nairobi had been telegraphed on ahead, that 
something might have been done by the townspeople on 
behalf of our tired and hungry men ; or that even some kind 
of official welcome might have been accorded them. But 
not a bite of food for nian or olhcer was to be had on our 
arrival at Nairobi, and not even hot water could be obtained 
to make tea with. 

Leaving Nairobi on the evening of June 27th, we reached 
our camp at Kajiado early the following morning, and our 
first expedit'on against the Germans was at an end. 

F. C. Selous, 

Lieutenant 25th Battalion 
Ro3'al Fusihers. 

In a letter to his friend Heatley Noble (July 26th, 19 15), 
Selous, who was then with his battalion guarding the 
Uganda railway near Voi, '^speaks of the difficulties lying 
ahead of our people and the efforts, only partially success- 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 317 

ful, to hold our territory against the splendidly organized 
German forces. 

" Since our fight attBukoba !^we have' made an attack 
on a German post in British territory on the road from 
Voi to Taveta. Our attack in this case failed, as our infor- 
mation seems to have been all wrong, and the Germans 
were found to be more strongly posted than had been 
supposed. An Indian Punjabi regiment was badly 
cut up, the Colonel killed and the Adjutant wounded 
and taken prisoner. The native porters, carrying ammu- 
nition and equipment of all kinds, threw down every- 
thing and cleared as soon as the first shots were fired, 
and the Germans took possession of everything, in- 
cluding the dead and wounded. They buried the Colonel 
with full military honours, and allowed the Adjutant to 
send word that he was being well looked after. There were 
several other units engaged in this affair, 500 Rhodesians, 
some of the Loyal North Lanes, and three companies of the 
K.A.R. ; but the casualties in aU these contingents were 
very small, only the Indian regiment apparently having 
got up against the machine-guns. Things are now at a 
standstill out here, and when there will be another move it 
is impossible to say. Botha had 50,000 men, and equip- 
ment of all kinds to conquer the Germans in South- West 
Africa, and he did his job splendidly. Here we have under 
2000 white troops, some 2000 African blacks and a consider- 
able number of Indians, most of them very much demoralized 
as they caught it badly at Tanga and Jasin. The Germans 
are said to have 4000 or 5000 white men in G.E.A. and 
nearly 20,000 very well trained black troops under German 
officers.* They are, too, splendidly equipped in every way, 
and have no end of machine-guns and ammunition. Even 
if we had a large army here, we could not move it across 
country to the vital points in G.E.A. , as the difficulties of 
transport would be insurmountable. The only way would 
be to take Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga, and then advance 

1 On the best authorit the Germans had 2500 white troops and 4200 
askaris at the beginning of the War. During the War they raised their 
black troops and poUce to from 12,000 to 18,000. 



3i8 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

methodically up their railways, as Botha did in S.W. Africa. 
For this we should require at least 20,000 or 30,000 men, 
and as we are not likely to get them, in my opinion we shall 
be stuck out here until peace is made in Europe. I hope to 
God that will be before many months are over, or all our 
young men will be killed. I hope and trust your sons are 
still alive. I often think of them and of your and Mrs. 
Noble's terrible anxiety. There has been a lot of sickness — 
fever and dysentery — both amongst the officers and men of 
this battalion, but only two deaths — two privates died of 
dysenter}^ I think that I am the only one of our officers who 
has not suffered at all from either bad diarrhoea, dysentery 
or fever. I have been quite well all the time, and have 
never been an hour off duty. Bukoba was rather hard, 
scarcely any food for two days and nights, up to our chests 
in the swamps, and then lying out in our wet clothes without 
fire or blanket. I did not suffer any after-effects at all, I 
am glad to say, and have now got into very good condition. 
The long marches do not tire me at all, and the men now 
say that when I fall out no one will be left standing in the 
battalion. This is, of course, nonsense, but as far as standing 
fatigue, sun, thirst, etc., I think that I am really better 
than most of them. Three of our officers have been found 
unfit for further service, and there are some others who are 
weak constitutionally, and will never be able to stand any 
really hard work. So we are very short of officers, and 
whether Colonel Driscoll's recommendation in my favour 
for good conduct in the field is attended to or not, I shall 
very likely get to be a captain before long, as I am the 
senior subaltern in the battalion. I don't know my drill 
very well, but my men, I hear, say they have great con- 
fidence in me, and will go anywhere with me ; but once I 
am through with this job, no more military duty for me. I 
hate all the drill and routine-work, and I shall be far too 
old to take part in any other war after this one." 

In a letter to me, written from Voi (December 8th, 1915), 
Selous gives a short general survey of the operations since 
he landed. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 319 

" My dear Johnny, 

" Your letter of October 31st reached me here three 
days]-ago, and I was very pleased to get it and to hear 
all your news. It is now more than seven months since 
we landed at Mombasa, on May 4th, and we have had a 
wearing, trying time ever since. Only one of our officers 
has been killed, but there has been much sickness both in 
our battalion and the Loyal North Lanes regiment, which 
came here from India, and several of our men have died 
from dysentery or fever, and several of our officers have been 
invalided home. I think that I am the only officer who has 
not been in hospital. So far I have not been ill at all and I 
have never yet been a day off duty or had a day's leave. 
I have never appHed for leave, but if I can last out for a 
few months longer, and during that time we are able to 
push the Germans back over their own frontier, and are then 
able to force them to give in, I want to get a couple of 
months' leave, and go to Uganda, after those fine water- 
bucks on the Semliki river. We were first of all on the high 
veldt in the game reserve on the Magadi railway, and there 
the chmate was very fine, but for the last four months we 
have been in this comparatively low hot country, protecting 
the Voi-Maktau railway, and hunting German patrols and 
dynamiting parties, in the most frightful bush. I was out 
in command of 30 rifles to the west of the Teita Hills 
towards the Tsavo river, and tracked a German dynamiting 
party for two days, and at one time was very close to them, 
but the bush was simply awful and they got off (without 
bombing the Uganda line) by moonHght, when we could 
no longer follow their tracks. The day after I got back 
from this 11 days' patrol, I was sent out again with 70 
rifles and 120 porters to examine the courses of the Mwatate 
and Bura rivers, and see how far they carried water, and if 
there were any German patrols about. I was out 7 days 
on this patrol. These patrols are not all pure joy, as the 
heat of the sun is now very great, and heavy rain falls 
almost every night. We can carry no tents or any kind 
of protection against the weather, and we had three very 



320 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

bad nights during the two patrols, h^ing in the soaking 
rain and nnid all night. Every night heavy thunder-storms 
break all round about, but they are very locaPand we have 
been lucky in not getting into the middle of more of them at 
nights. We often get soaked in the daytime, but dry again 
as soon as the storm is over. This bush- work is very trying, 
as the German black askaris are very much better at it 
than heavily equipped white men, many of whom have 
always lived in towns before coming out here. They are 
recruited from lighting tribes — mostly Manyamwesi — and 
are not only very brave, but very well armed. We have met 
with some nasty knocks in this district, but have also 
ambushed the enemy now and again, and inflicted heavy 
punishment on them. A party of the Lanes were ambushed 
and badly cut up 6 miles from here not long ago, losing 
2 olhcers and nearl}' 20 men killed, and when Lieutenant 
Dartnell of cwrs was killed,^ the mounted infantry to which 
he was attached were ambushed and suffered severely. 
On the other hand, the mounted infantry with two com- 
panies of Baluchis not long afterwards waylaid a party of 
the enemy, and killed over 30 of them, and one German 
olficer. Only yesterday, the Boer force from the Uas 
n'gishu (Rcltield's Scouts) 100 men under Major Arnoldi, 
went out from IMaktau, and meeting a German force 
coming towards IMaktau from their strongly fortified 
position at M'buyuni, 13 miles away, attacked them, 
and killed two white Germans and over 20 askaris, and 
tot)k prisoners 4 white Germans (2 wounded). The Boers 
had only one casualty, which was imfortunately their 
leader Major Arnoldi. He was only wounded in the shoulder, 
but fell from his saddle, and his foot unfortunately catching 
in his stirrup had his brains knocked out against a tree. 
In all the time I have been out here I have only taken part 
in one incident of interest. That was the journey up to 

^ " Dartnell was awarded the \'.C. posthumously for gallantry, when 
wounded preferring to stop behind with his men, when he could have been 
evacuated. The enemy on returning to the scene of the light where 
Dartnell had been left with the wounded, commenced to lull them, and 
Dartnell fought to the last, trying to protect his men " (K. Meincrtzhageu, 
Col.). 




H 



< 

at 

is 
o 

b 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 321 

and across the Victoria Nyanza, and the attack on and 
capture of Biikoba on the western side of the lake. 400 
of our men took part in this adventure, and it was we 
men of the 25th FusiHers who did everything that was 
done. I was then a lieutenant in A Company, and led my 
platoon on the first day, and conducted a very risky patrol 
of 20 men early on the second day, and a reconnaissance 
later — more risky still — ^with four men who volunteered for 
the job. We had two days' fighting, and, as I was always 
in front, I had personally some very narrow escapes. I may 
tell you privately, but keep it to yourself, that Colonel 
DriscoU was very pleased with my conduct at Bukoba, and 
told me that he had recommended me for promotion and 
something more, but as I have never heard anything more 
about it, no notice was taken, I suppose, of Colonel Driscoll's 
recommendation. I should certainly have liked my name to 
have been mentioned in despatches. However, it can't be 
helped, and I may get another chance. I have got my 
promotion to captain, but that came to me in the natural 
course of events, as a Captain Williams was invalided home, 
and I was the senior subaltern. You may possibly have 
heard that there have been disasters out here, but if the 
whole truth about everything out here is ever known it will 
be a revelation to most people. It was certainly an evil 
day for British East Africa when the Indian Government took 
over the defence of this country.^ With the exception of the 
Baluchis and the Cashmiris all the other Indian troops have 
failed badly out here, and have proved very inferior to either 
our own K.A.R.'s or the German native askaris. The attack 
on, and capture of Bukoba by our men is the only success 
on any considerable scale yet scored by the British out here. 
I do not say it was much, but at any rate we carried out 
what we were set to do, and captured the town of Bukoba 
and destroyed the very fine wireless installation. We 
hear that a British general from France is on his 
way out here as G.O.C., and that large numbers of troops 

1 The Indian Government were not to blame. They had sent all their 
best troops to France and had to keep large reserves in India for possible 
contingencies, so that the troops they sent to East Africa were not of the 
best quality. 
V 



322 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

are coming here both from South Africa and other 
parts. Something is undoubtedly in preparation, but I 
suppose it will be another two months before everything 
is in readiness for a big advance. And the Germans 
may move first, as they have four times as many men 
as we have, and many more guns and machine-guns. 
We are now in a camp built by the North Lanes and 
some Indian troops, or rather two camps a mile apart. 
Sickness has reduced our battalion to about 700 men, and 
of these many are weak and ill, and I don't think we have 
more than 400 men who are really strong and capable of 
marching 20 miles in the hot sun, with their heavy equip- 
ment. Our whole battalion, after having been continually 
split up and sent in batches all over the country, were at 
last brought all together again here under Colonel DriscoU ; 
three companies in the one camp and one in the 
smaller camp a mile away. But last week the Colonel 
in command at Maktau got nervous and ordered 
Colonel Driscoll to send half his battalion there. Now 
we are left in this very large camp with under 
200 rifles — counting all our black scouts — and all the 
tailors, cobblers, barbers, commissariat and orderly-room 
people. We haven't a gun of any kind, nor even a 
single machine-gun, and the camp itself is in a hollow com- 
manded by higher ground on all sides. We have another 
100 or 150 rifles in the smaller camp a mile away. Well, 
news came a few days ago that a large enemy force with 
several Hotchkiss guns and many Maxims was advancing 
on Kisigau, from which an Indian garrison was driven some 
time ago. We had another small garrison at Kisigau of 
50 K.A.R.'s. The Germans have again captured the place 
after kilHng or wounding 40 of the garrison. The remainder 
made their escape. When the G.O.C. and the other generals 
at Nairobi and Voi heard of this advance on Kisigau, they 
thought the Germans intended making a determined 
attack on the railway line, and sent 1500 troops — 
Rhodesians, North Lanes, K.A.R.'s, and Indians — down to 
Voi to march from Maungu to Kisigau, leaving Maktau very 
short of men, though they there have plenty of guns, a 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 323 

mountain battery and machine-guns, and the place is very 
strongly fortified. At the new station Mashoti, between 
here and Maktau, only 100 men have been left, but they have 
guns and machine-guns, and are in a very well constructed 
camp in a very good position. If we are attacked here by 
any considerable force with guns and machine-guns we can 
do nothing, and shall probably all get scuppered. We were 
fully expecting an attack yesterday, last night, or this 
morning, as we got a message from Maktau that a large force 
was approaching. The last rumour is that 10,000 men are 
advancing on Maktau. At the same time, if the Germans 
are going to do anything worth while, now is their 
chance, before the new troops get here. They know every- 
thing about us from their Arab and native spies. 
Well ! if the Germans know the state of this place 
and do not attack it, they will be great fools. The 
whole position is farcical. This is a very important point, 
as if it is taken, the water supply to Maktau and Mashoti 
will be cut off, and yet we have been left with only a few 
rifles and not a single gun or machine-gun to defend an 
immense perimeter. Well ! all we can do is to ' wait and see,' 
as Mr. Asquith would say. I am afraid that the war will 
go on for some time yet, and thousands more of our men 
will be killed before it is over. I have two young nephews 
at the Front in France now and I think a third has gone to 
Serbia with the Motor Transport. My eldest son Freddy 
will not be eighteen till next April, but I expect he will be 
sent out soon after then, as he is big and strong for his age. 
If he goes out and gets killed^ it will break his mother's 
heart and mine too, if I should live to come home, and it 
will be the same for you and your wife if you lose Geoff ;2 
but I pray God he will be spared to outlive this terrible war. 
I suppose the Germans cannot now possiby win the war ; 
but can the Allies absolutely crush them before their 
finances are exhausted ? The war will soon probably be 

^ Capt. Freddy Selous, M.c, R.A.F.C., killed in action, January 6th, 
1918. 

* Capt. G. de C. Millais, Bedfordshire Regiment, killed in action, 
August 22nd, 1918. 



324 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

costing us £6,000,000 a day instead of £5,000,000. How 
long can we stand that ? We seem to have made some 
terrible mistakes and miscalculations, especially in the 
Dardanelles and the Balkans, However, like everyone else 
out here, I suppose I am despondent. Perhaps the heat 
down here is depressing. This place has the reputation of 
being very unhealthy in the rainy season, and I fear our 
men will suffer very much during the next two months. 
Your naval work must be very interesting, and you must 
tell me all about it, if we ever meet again. I was very 
sorry to hear that poor Gerald Legge^ had been killed. 
But who is going to be left alive when this war is over ? 

" Well ! good-bye, old friend, and with very kind regards 
to Mrs. Millais and all your family and wishing Geoff the 
best of good luck, yours ever, Fred. 

" P.S. — I have not seen Judd yet. He was scouting down 
on the German border for some months after the war broke 
out, but has been on his farm near Nairobi for the last six 
months." 

The following letters from Ex-President Roosevelt in 
reply to letters from Selous, describing local conditions in 
B.E. Africa, give some of his views on Germany prior to 
the entry of America in the Great War : — 

"Oyster Bay, 

" Long Island, N.Y., 

" April 2nd, 1915. 
" My dear Selous, 

" I have received your letter of February 23rd and 
send this to Nairobi. I am exceedingly glad you have gone 
to British East Africa. I am sorry to say that very re- 
luctantly I have come to the same conclusion that you 
have about the purposes and conduct of Germany. The 

^ Capt. the Hon. Gerald Legge, second son of the Earl of Dartnfouth, 
killed in action in Gallipoli, August, 1915 ; an excellent naturalist and a 
great friend of ours. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 325 

behaviour of her armies in Belgium and in the North of 
France was, I think, the inevitable result of the kind of 
doctrine that has been preached by those high in authority 
in Germany and which was typified by the Emperor's famous 
advice to his troops in China to ' behave like Huns.' A 
man cannot direct soldiers to behave like Huns and then 
escape responsibility for the swinish horrors that follow. 
From my book you have already seen how strongly I have 
spoken as to the failure of the United States and other 
neutrals to do their duty when the Hague Conventions were 
violated. You cannot speak any more strongly than I have 
spoken. 

" One genuine surprise to me was the strength that the 
Germans have shown in their colonies.^ I agree with you 
that the attitude of the Boers has been one of the finest 
tributes imaginable to the justice with which England has 
behaved in South Africa. I have sent your letter to Kermit. 
It will make him eager to be beside you under Driscoll. 

1 most earnestly hope that you won't be used as a transport 
officer. Tarlton writes me that he was not allowed to go to 
the front either. I would a good deal rather trust Tarlton 
and you in a fight than most of the men who are technically 
entirely fit because of their youth and physical soundness. 

" I have not the heart to write to you about ordinary 
things while you are in the midst of this terrible struggle. As I 
have said in an article I recently wrote, I do not believe 
in neutrality between right and wrong ; and I am very 
sorry that the United States is not in the struggle. If there 
were a war, my four boys would go, although I suppose 
that the two younger ones would have to go as enlisted men ; 
and I should ask permission to raise a division of nine regi- 
ments of the same type as the regiment I commanded in 
Cuba. They were men in whom your soul would have 
delighted. They were much of the stamp of the Hills of 

^ " The German strength was not so much (at any rate in East Africa) 
their numbers, but their efficiency, and the fact that they were prepared 
and we were not. They also scored heavily by being able to draft into 
their black ranks ten per cent of trained white soldiers who were settlers 
and business men in peace time. We had no such asset. Moreover, the 
German superiority of machine-guns, 2 to every 100 men, outweighed our 

2 to 800 men ! " (R. Meinertzhagen, Col.) 



326 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

British East Africa — by the way, if you see them give 
them my warm regards, as also to Newland and any other 
friends you meet, I am dehghted to hear about your son. 
' ' With hearty good wishes, 

" Faithfully yours, 

" Theodore Roosevelt." 



" August 26th, 19 15. 

" Dear Selous, 

" Your letter of July nth has just come. I congratu- 
late you with all my heart. It is simply first-class to have 
you a lighting officer in the lighting line, leading your men 
in the very work that you are particularly and peculiarly 
fitted to do. I was wholly unable to understand Lord Kit- 
chener refusing you a commission. It seemed to me to be 
an instance of following the letter that kills instead of the 
spirit that gives life. The Germans have used Von Hinden- 
burg,i who was away over the legal age-limit for generals ; 
and he has been their best general. There is undoubtedly 
a certain type of bureaucrat who would have thought it 
more important to observe the rule by keeping him at 
home than to have secured his leadership in victory. Of 
course, I personally believe in universal military service, 
and in the most rigorous application of military law during 
a war. If I had control in East Africa — or in Great Britain 
or the United States, for that matter ! — I would make every 
man do whatever was best for the nation, whether this 
meant that he was to fight or to produce ammunition or to 
produce coal, and I would treat the man who sought to 
make a profit out of the war or who went on a strike so as 
to avoid doing his duty in the war just as summarily as I 
would treat the soldier who flinched in a fight. 

" I am so pleased that MacMillan is with you and is doing 
so well with the commissariat. Give him my heartiest 
regards. I wish to heaven Kermit and I were with you, 

1 " Hindenburg has been a mere figure-head and idol of the people. 
Ludendorff is the brain of the German Army and real conducting head " 
(R. Meinertzhagcn, Col.). 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 3^7 

or at least that Kermit^ was with you, and that I was helping 
in the trenches in Flanders, where I would be of more 
service. 

" I send you herewith two articles I have just written in 
reference to what I regard as the frightful misconduct of 
my own country. The trouble is that the men at the head 
of our Government are doing just exactly what the men at 
the head of your Government did up to a year and a quarter 
ago ; and they treat the words of men like myself precisely 
as your men treated Lord Roberts — I do not mean to com- 
pare myself to Lord Roberts in this matter, but the attitude 
of the governmental authorities toward him and toward 
me has been the same. 

" That was a first-class Httle fight at Bukoba. If the 
Germans keep sinking boats with our citizens on them, 
sooner or later I cannot help thinking our citizens as a whole 
will themselves insist on fighting. The professional pacifists 
have done this country a damage that cannot be over- 
stated. If you come through all right and if, in the event 
of war, I come through all right, I shall look forward eagerly 
to seeing you when the war is over and asking for more 
details about what you tell me concerning the attitude of 
so many people in British East Africa and in Nairobi, for I 
am immensely puzzled over it. Pray present my warmest 
regards to MacMillan and my hearty congratulations as 
well, and also present my respects and congratulations to 
Colonel Driscoll." 

Writing at an earlier date (December 4th, 1914); Roose- 
velt in his usual vigorous style thus expresses his estimate 
of German policy : — 

" I don't wonder that you feel a little bit concerned about 
the war. Moreover, I am not certain that the theory that 
France and England are to act as anvil and Russia as ham- 
mer will work out. It looks to me as if, unit for unit, the 
Russians had shown a marked inferiority to the Germans, 

^ In 191 7, Kermit Roosevelt joined our forces in Mesopotamia. Since 
this date Roosevelt's three other sons have joined the American troops, 
and two have distinguished themselves as soldiers. Lieut. Quentin 
Roosevelt was killed in action in France in July, 1918. 



328 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

French, and English. They have enormous numbers and 
great endurance, and these may become decisive factors in 
the end. I do hope that your army will increase in numbers, 
however, to the point of being able to become formidable as 
an offensive factor. 

" I have a great admiration and respect for the Germans. 
I wish to heavens that this country would wake up to the 
hideous damage, moral and physical, caused by the deification 
of mere industriaUsm, of softness and of self-indulgence. 
National acceptance of the need of hard labour, of facing risk, 
and of the exercise of foresight is necessary to national great- 
ness. If I must choose between a policy of blood and iron and 
one of milk and water — especially of skimmed milk and dish- 
water — ^why I am for the policy of blood and iron. It is 
better not only for the nation, but in the end for the world. 
But my admiration for the Germans does not blind me to 
the fact that for the last fifty years their development 
along the lines of policy advocated by Frederick the Great 
and Bismarck, and so enthusiastically championed by Carlyle, 
has resulted in their becoming a very grave menace to every 
nation with which they are brought in contact. I immensely 
admire German industrial, social, and military efficiency ; 
but I abhor the kind of militarism which has resulted in 
such cynical contempt for international morality and such 
appalHng ruthlessness in war. I think it folly for a man 
not to admire the German efficiency ; and utter weakness 
for him not to reahze that that efficiency may be used 
against his own nation and take steps accordingly. I wish 
I were in the war myself ! " 

The authorities at home at last resolved to take the East 
African campaign into their own hands, and in January 
appointed General Smuts to the command and gave him 
adequate forces with which to make an advance into 
German East Africa. Selous' letter to me, February 25th, 
1916, brings his narrative up to date. 

" My dear Johnny, 

" After a long interval we got a mail here yesterday, 
and it brought me your letter of January 5th. This 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 329 

is the second letter I have received from you, so I 
think I must have missed one, and it may have gone 
down in the ill-fated ' Persia,' which had mails for East 
Africa on board. I have not much news to give you, nor 
much time to write jt, as we are now just getting ready for 
a move forward. After over five months of hard grinding 
work in the very hot sun, guarding the line from Voi to near 
Mombasa, and from Voi to Maktau, on the way to Taveta, 
and many patrols without any kind of shelter all through 
the heavy rains of December and January, we were sent 
up to Kajiado on the Magadi railway, and then on here 
about a fortnight ago. We are now camped just over the 
German border, and go on to Longido, 18 miles ahead, 
very shortly. You will have seen in the papers that General 
Smith-Dorrien was taken ill in South Africa, and that 
General Smuts has taken his place as G.O.C. out here. 
He will, I think, commence the offensive against the Ger- 
mans immediately, but if the Germans have the forces 
they are said to have, and if all their native troops remain 
loyal to them, we shall have a devil of a job. I hear that 
General Smuts, who arrived in the country a week ago, and 
has already been to Longido by motor-car, fully realizes 
that this affair will be a much more difficult business than 
the South- West Africa campaign. There the Germans had 
no native troops, and Botha had ten men for every man the 
Germans could muster. Then the country in German S.W. 
Africa was much easier to work in than this dense tropical 
bush, which lends itself at every yard to ambushes and is 
everywhere very much in favour of the defending forces. 
Water is a great difficulty here, too, and the greater part of 
German East Africa between our border and the Dar-es- 
Salaam, Tanganyika railway, except round Kilimanjaro 
and other high mountains, seems to be very waterless. 
There is only one permanent water between Kajiado and 
this camp, over 50 miles, and the transport animals have 
to do a trek of over 30 miles without water. However, 
we have this year had no dry season, for since it commenced 
to rain in November, it has been raining off and on ever 
since, not sufficiently to fill the water-holes, but quite 



330 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

enough to make things very uncomfortable, and to keep the 
grass growing, which I am afraid is all in favour of the 
Germans, as it makes good cover for their ambushes every- 
where. The German officers out here seem to be very fine 
soldiers, and what people do not realize, their black troops 
are not only as brave as any Zulus, but splendidly led and 
well armed and supported with any number of machine- 
guns. No better men could be found in the whole world, 
and personally, in this bush-covered, overgrown, but still 
hot and waterless country, I would much sooner have to 
light against Germans from the Fatherland than these well- 
trained and elusive blacks. If we could only gain some 
success a lot of them might desert. But all the successes 
have been on their side up to now (except at Bukoba), and 
they must be full of confidence. A fortnight ago, just before 
General Smuts reached this country, an attack was launched 
against a German position not far from Taveta, by three 
regiments of South Africans, supported by a regiment of 
Baluchis and some Rhodesians. The situation was only 
saved from complete disaster by the Baluchis and the 
Rhodesians. I enclose a reference to the affair in the 
Nairobi paper, but it has been very unfortunate, and is a 
very bad beginning to the new campaign now opening, as 
it will keep the German black troops loyal to their masters, 
and fill them with renewed confidence. Smuts' generalship 
may prove superior to all the difficulties he will have to 
contend with, but I expect he now realizes that he is up against 
a much more difficult proposition than he had expected. 
When we advance from our most forward base — Longido — 
we are not to carry any kind of tents or shelter from the 
weather, and as the heavy rains now seem to be setting in 
(we are having heavy thunder-storms with soaking rain now 
every day or night) we are likely to have a very bad time, 
and most of us who are still fit will be sure to go down with 
fever or dysentery, as the heavy rains may last all through 
March, April, May, and June. Well ! the future is on the 
knees of the gods, and we must take the luck they send us. 
Lately we have been practising attacks on positions, advanc- 
ing in bush formation under General Sheppard, an awfully 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 331 

nice man, who I think will command the brigade to which 
we arc attached. I am now in command of A Company of 
the 25th Fusiliers, and in all our manoeuvres A and B 
Companies have to lead the advance, so I expect we shall 
have to do the same when it comes to actually attacking 
any German position. When we landed at Mombasa on 
May 4th last our battalion was nearly iioo strong and there 
were 273 men in A Company. Now we have lost more than 
half our officers, and have not more than 400 men fit to 
march and fight. This is the effect of the climate. In A 
Company we can muster about 100 fit men, and three 
officers (myself and two men raised from the ranks) . Well ! 
I hope that this accursed war will be over by next August, 
and I think it will, as by that time Germany will surely be 
exhausted, as well as some of the Allies. By April, I see 
it is stated, that the war will be costing us £6,000,000 a day. 
How long can we stand that ? What I cannot understand 
is, where are our armies of milHons of men, and all the 
stores of munitions wc arc making and buying from America. 
We are said to have now 5,000,000 of men well armed and 
equipped, and yet wc do not appear to have more than 
1,000,000 in France and Flanders, nor more than 500,000 
in Salonika and Egypt together. In Mesopotamia and East 
Africa, we have only a few hundreds of British troops, all 
the rest being Indians and South Africans. Well ! I hope 
I shall live through this show, and come home again, as I 
want to see my wife again, and watch my boys' careers. 
I believe that Freddy will pass out of Sandhurst this month. 
I was very pleased to hear that all is so far going well with 
you and yours. May your boys be spared to you and their 
mother whatever happens. With very kind regards to all 
of you." 

" Old Moschi, 
" On the Slopes of Kilimanjaro, 
" May 2nd, 1916. 
" My dear Johnny, 

" It is a long time now since I last heard from you, but 
I trust that all is still going well with you and yours. On 
the day after to-morrow we shall have been a whole solid year 



332 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

out here, as we landed at Mombasa on May 4th, 1915. Of 
that year we have been over six months in the low unhealthy 
bush-country, doing heavy marches in the hottest hours 
of the day, and lying out on patrols with no shelter or 
protection whatever from the weather, all through the 
heavy rains of December and January last. As I never had 
any fever, diarrhoea or dysentery, but was always well, I 
did more of this patrol work than any other officer in our 
battalion, and it meant long marches too, sometimes 
following small parties of Germans trying to blow up the 
Uganda railway. In common with all the other white 
troops serving on foot out here, our battalion has suffered 
terribly from the climate, and is now almost quite used up. 
The Loyal North Lanes regiment has been out here eighteen 
months ; but they have had two strong drafts from home 
to make good their losses. However, they have now been 
sent or are just about to go to Wynberg, near Cape Town, to 
recruit, and from there will probably be sent home. Four 
of our officers and a lot of our men have also been sent 
there. The Rhodesian regiment which first came out here 
has also suffered very badly from the chmate, and has now 
been sent to the escarpment near Nairobi to recruit. The 
South African troops which have only just come out here 
are also suffering a lot from fever and dysenter}^ and 
Van Deventer is said to have lost about 1400 horses (from 
horse-sickness) out of the 2000 he had six weeks ago. 
The condition of our battalion is simply lamentable. When 
we came up from the low country at the end of February 
to Kajiado (5800 feet above sea-level) Colonel Driscoll tried 
to collect all his men from the various hospitals and con- 
valescent homes in the country. We had landed at Mom- 
basa on May 4th, 1915, with 1127 rifles, and we mustered 
at Kajiado about 700 on February ist, 1916 ; but of these 
many were no longer of any use for marching in the hot 
sun. From Kajiado we went to Longido, and were incor- 
porated with Colonel Stewart's Brigade, which had to march 
right round Kilimanjaro, and meet General Smuts' much 
larger force at Moschi. As far as our Brigade was con- 
cerned only 449 of the 691 who had left Kajiado were found 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 333 

to be fit enough for the heavy marching in front of us. 
Starting from Longido late in the morning of March 5th, 
we marched 9 miles under a very hot sun to Sheep Hill. 
There was there no shelter from the sun, and we passed a 
very unpleasant day. We were told to rest and sleep, as 
we had a long night-march of 20 miles before us. We 
marched all night long except from 12 to 2 a.m., and did 
not get to the water until after midday the next day, and 
the distance registered in General Stewart's motor-car was 
30 miles instead of 20. We had other very long marches in 
the very hot sun, in choking clouds of fine lava-dust, churned 
up by the heavy transport. The Germans had prepared to 
dispute our advance along the main road from Longido 
to New Moschi, which passes N'gara Nairobi. But under 
the guidance of a Boer settler in German East Africa, named 
Pretorius, we left the road soon after leaving Sheep Hill 
and travelled across country to Boma N'gombi, 15 miles 
from New Moschi (the railway terminus), on the road to 
Aruscha. The Germans, whose main forces were trying to 
hold back Smuts' big columns advancing on Taveta, ap- 
parently had not sufficient forces to come out and attack 
General Stewart's column, so we got through with nothing 
more than a little sniping. Arrived at Boma N'gombi, we 
got into communication with General Smuts through our 
wireless, and General Stewart was ordered to send a picked 
force by a forced march to join up with one of his forces at 
Masai Kraal, and then advance together to New Moschi. 
About half of our 449 men (many of whom were now badly 
knocked up) were considered fit for this advance and I 
led 55 men of my A Company, the 55 fittest men of the 
282 of A Company who had stepped ashore at Mombasa 
less than a year before. The night we left Boma N'gombi 
heavy rain came on and we marched in rain and mud and 
pitch darkness for many miles along an old abandoned 
waggon-road. Before daylight we joined up with some 
mounted scouts, who informed us that the Germans had 
evacuated New Moschi and gone off down the railwa}^ 
and that South African troops had occupied both New 
Moschi and Old Moschi (where I am now writing on the 



334 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

slopes of Kilimanjaro and six miles by road from New 
Moschi in the plain below us). The day after we got to 
New Moschi, we were sent off with part of General Stewart's 
Brigade, under Colonel (now Brigadier-General Sheppard) 
to co-operate with the S. African forces against the Germans, 
who had retired from Taveta towards the Ruwu river. 
A night march of i6 miles brought us to Newi Hill on the 
road to Taveta, and after a march of a few miles the next 
afternoon we got in touch with the E.A.M.R., and shortly 
afterwards a fevv^ German snipers. We pushed them back 
and then entrenched as well as we could. That night they 
sniped us a bit, but did no harm. The bush was very thick 
all round our camp, but it was nearly full moon. We heard 
the attack on one of the S.A. Brigades to our left, and also 
the heavy German gun (a 4.1 naval gun from the ' Konigs- 
berg ') firing both at this brigade and at Van Deventer's 
Brigade, which had advanced down the railway line from 
New Moschi to Kahi station. These brigades, I believe, 
ought to have got in touch with us, but they did not do so. 
During March 20th we improved our trenches and prepared 
for a night attack, which in fact started at 8.45 and was 
kept up till I a.m. The black troops, under German officers, 
behaved very pluckily, and time after time answered the 
bugle call to advance on our camp. Our Maxims kept them 
off. Fortunately they had no machine-guns with them, 
and though they fired thousands of shots at our camp they 
did very little damage, as almost all the bullets went pinging 
over us. Soon after i a.m, we heard their bugle sounding 
the ' assemble ' and they drew off. In the morning the 
dead just in front of our machine-gun commanding the road 
were collected and laid out in a row — like pheasants or hares 
after a drive — but the bush was not searched for the rest 
of the dead, as we had to push on and attack the Germans 
who were entrenched across the road a few miles on ahead 
on the Soko river. They held us off all day, and we had 
about 200 casualties, as the South African Brigades on our 
right and left which were to have enveloped them could 
not or did not come up. The men of our battalion (about 
50 of each of our 4 companies) were in reserve, but late in 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 335 

the afternoon A, C, and D Companies had to go forward 
to support an Indian regiment. I was in command of my 
50 men of A Company. We really could do nothing but 
lie very flat, trying to dig ourselves in with bayonets and 
fingers, being under the sweeping fire of three or four 
machine-guns. The lie of the ground just saved us when 
l3nng fiat, and the bullets just swept over us in bouquets. 
We only had 17 casualties, and only 2 men killed dead. 
So far our battalion has not had much fighting, but we have 
gone through much hardship, fatigue, and exposure. You 
will wonder how I have stood it all at my age. But the fact 
remains that from May 4th, 1915, to February 6th, 1916, I 
never took leave or a day's rest, and was never a single day 
off duty or away from my company. From February 6th 
to the 12th I had to lie up, as I had jiggers in one of my 
toes, and the inflammation went to my groin. Since then I 
have never been a day away from my company again up 
till to-day, and have never put my leg over a horse, but 
done all the marching with the men, carrying my rifle, 50 
or 60 rounds of ammunition, water-bottle, glasses and 
haversack with food — at least 20 lbs. altogether. But the 
men have usually had to carry 150 rounds of ammunition. 
Still, considering that I shall be sixty-five at the end of 
this year I have stuck it out remarkably well, and am one 
of the very few in the battalion who has never yet had a 
day's iUness, for inflammation caused by jiggers cannot 
be called illness. But now I am beginning to be troubled 
with haemorrhoids and another trouble. I have kept this 
in check out here for a whole year with astringent ointment, 
but during the last month it has got much worse and it 
may oblige me to come home on leave for an operation. 
The wet and damp of the last month here may have had 
something to do with the aggravation of my trouble. 

" General Smuts was very lucky. He was just given time 
to carry out his operations round Kilimanjaro and drove 
the Germans down the Une towards Tanga before the rain 
set in. We have been up here (about 30oVmen, of whom 
100 have been in hospital and a lot more ill in camp, as the 
hospital is full) for nearly a month and it has rained almost 



336 THE LIFE OF F C. SELOUS 

day and night all the time, and we have lived in a sea of 
vile sticky mud. One of our officers as near as possible died 
of dysentery, but he is now much better. We — both officers 
and men — ^have had nothing but bare army rations since 
leaving Longido on March 5th last. However, we are now 
leaving this place, and going to M'buyuni, near Maktau, on th^ 
Voi-Taveta Railway, as the railway is now through to New 
Moschi — but from Taveta to Moschi it is very uncertain, 
as the heavy rains keep washing parts of the line away. The 
Germans blew up their naval 4.1 gun at the Ruwu river 
after firing all the 70 rounds at our camp and the two 
S.A. Brigades. They put the shells very close to our camp 
but did not hit it, but they dropped one amongst Van 
Deventer's men and killed five or six men and horses. After 
the fighting at the Soko and round Kahe on March 20th 
and 2ist, the Germans retired down the Tanga Railway, and 
are said to be entrenching at various places. Nothing 
further can be done on our side until the rains are over, as 
all transport of a railway line is now almost impossible. 
Horses, mules, and men are all suffering terribly from the 
climate, and diseases of man and beast, and the frightful 
thick bush will help the Germans very much if they intend 
to fight on till the bitter end. Van Deventer has had a 
fresh lot of horses sent to him, and is now near the main 
German Railway from Dar-es-Salaam to Lake Tanganyika. 
The Belgians ought, too, soon to be co-operating from the 
Congo. We have just got the terribly bad news of General 
Townshend's surrender to the Turks in Mesopotamia, and the 
outbreak in Ireland. My son Freddy passed out of 
Sandhurst on April 6th and is, I expect, now attached to 
the Royal West Surrey regiment. The Commandant at 
Sandhurst has written to my wife speaking in very high 
terms of praise about him ; but, alas, I may never see him 
alive again if this accursed war goes on much longer. And 
you and poor Mrs. Millais must now be most anxious about 
your eldest boy too. Well ! of course their country comes 
first for them and for us, and we must all try and do our 
duty, but it will break our wives' hearts if either of them 
loses her boy, and it will take all the joy of fife out of us 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 337 

too. Well ! I have written you an unconscionably long 
letter, but it has hardly ever stopped raining now for more 
than an hour or so at a time for two days and nights, and 
we are enveloped in thick mist, and there is nothing to do 
but read and write. The weather gets worse and worse, 
that is the rain gets more incessant. Everything is saturated 
with moisture, and my blankets seem quite wet when I get 
into them at night. It is the constant unending wet and 
damp I think that gets to the men's stomachs and bowels 
and gives them dysentery. The slopes of Kilimanjaro may 
be a health resort in the dry season, but they are not much 
of a place to live in during the heavy rains. And the natives 
say that the rains will go on until the middle or end of 
June. Well ! once more good-bye, old fellow, and with 
very kind regards to Mrs. Millais and your children, and 
trusting that all is well with all of them." 

" May 4ih, 1916. 

" To-day is the anniversary of our landing at Mombasa on 
May 4th, 19 15. Since writing to you two days ago I have 
seen a good doctor, as my trouble with piles is getting bad. 
He says I must have an operation soon, as if I went on long 
hard marches now I might get into a state which would 
require an immediate operation or serious consequences to 
me might happen. He advises me strongly to go home and 
have the operation there, as he does not think there is a 
really skilful surgeon out here. In all probability, therefore, 
as soon as I get to the big camp at M'bu5runi, I shall be 
again examined, and a board of medical men will recom- 
mend that I shall be given three months' leave of absence 
to go home and have this operation, so I may be home 
almost as soon as this letter. Really it does not much 
matter, as our battaUon is played out, used up, and they 
will probably not find more than 300 men fit for duty, and 
these only fit for garrison-duty on the lines of communica- 
tion. The forward movements to the Dar-es-Salaam Une 
will I think be carried out by Smuts' mounted forces and 
his 1000 motor bicyclists and armoured motors, as soon as 



338 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the rains are over and the country becomes possible for 
transport. During the rains I beHeve the railway will be 
pushed on from New Moschi towards the main German 
railway line. Well ! good-bye again." 

In June, 1916, after an examination by a medical board, 
Selous came home to undergo an operation which was com- 
pletely successful. He was only ill for twelve days and then 
went to his home for a short rest. In August he went out 
again with a draft to East Africa, going via the Cape. 

Both at the time Selous served with them and during 
his short absence, the sufferings and difficulties of our troops 
in this bush fighting under tropical rains and intense heat 
were such as to try the nerves of the strongest troops. 
Colonel Driscoll, who commanded the battalion of Frontiers- 
men, gives a vivid picture (" The Weekly Dispatch," July 
2ist, 1918) of the sufferings endured by the men who were 
so unfortunate as to be wounded. 

" It's very different when you get down to the plains and 
the bush. I don't think any words could describe that. A 
vast and almost impenetrable forest so thick that when an 
aeroplane goes up the observer sees nothing but a great 
green carpet below him. And wild animals, mind you, as 
well as wild devils to fight ; the sun burning 37our very 
flesh ; the flies intolerable. 

" Imagine a camp at night under these conditions. 
Round and about the lions are roaring from hunger. Hyenas 
prowl in the hope of snapping up a sentry or leaping in and 
carrying off a wounded man. I have known a man 
with a temperature of 105 Fahrenheit stagger up in the 
morning and insist upon continuing the march. It was 
the old spirit of my Scouts ever unquenchable. 

" The natives — the old natives, as I have said — were 
always on our side. What would have happened to us if 
they had not hated the German like the devil I cannot tell 
you. But they followed us through the bush, often for 
miles, brought us food and attached themselves to us as 
servants, who were quite ready to carry rifles upon occasion. 
This was very helpful, for sometimes at night, when the 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 339 

force was absolutely without provisions, we had to send 
men scouting in native villages, and they could easily have 
been betrayed. Nothing would have been easier for a 
treacherous native than to have sneaked out while two or 
three of our men were in his hut and to have warned the 
nearest camp of Askaris. It never happened. The loathing 
of the Blonde Beast was too universal. 

" All this sounds bad enough, but believe me, it gives you 
but a poor account of what it cost us to win ' German East.' " 



CHAPTER XIV 

SEPTEMBER, I916-I917 

SELOUS left England on his last journey on August 
loth, 1916, and landed at Mombasa (via the Cape) 
in September with a draft of 400 new recruits for 
the 25th Royal Fusiliers. First he went up the Uganda 
railway to Nairobi, and later to Korogwe in the Usambara 
valley, and after resting here a week or two brought his 
detachment on to Tanga in September, where he was de- 
tained for nearly eight weeks. He remained at Tanga until 
December 2nd, until his force moved up to Dar-es-Salaam 
to take part in a fresh movement against the Germans. 

The campaign in German East Africa had now entered 
on its most difficult period. Owing to the enormous wastage 
in men and horses, transport of all kinds was most difficult 
and in some cases impossible during the rainy season. 
Writing from Tanga on November nth, 1916, to Chapman, 
he says : — 

" The war has now entered upon a very difficult phase. 
As von Lettow-Vorbeck — a very able and determined man 
— the German commander, has been allowed to escape with 
considerable forces well equipped with machine-guns, into 
the wilderness towards the Portuguese border. We hold all 
the ports, all the towns, plantations, etc., and both the 
railway lines — but von Lettow still commands a force, 
it is thought, of over 1000 whites and several thousand 
trained black troops, well found in arms and ammu- 
nition. The wastage from fever and dysentery has 
been terrible, and, as the heavy rains will come on, where 
the Germans are, very shortly now, if Smuts cannot round 
them up quickly it will be impossible to continue this cam- 
paign for months. He is busy repairing roads and railways 

340 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 341 

and getting up supplies to near the Front, and we are ex- 
pecting to get forward again at any moment. With the 
latest drafts our battalion has had 1400 men out here. All 
we have left of them are 149 at Kijabe (but these must 
mostly be unfit for further hard service) and 394 here, of 
which latter number loi are sick. Two have died in hospital 
this week. Of the two fine Rhodesian regiments, it is said 
that only 68 are fit. The North Lanes Regt. has wasted 
to nothing, in spite of many drafts. The position is now 
most difficult, and unless a decision can quickly be arrived 
at, this campaign may drag on for months and have to be 
finished by black troops, as another month in a heavy 
rainy season, without shelter and short rations, will lay out 
all the white troops still left. 

"F. C. S." 

i;; During the period March-September, 19 16, General Smuts 
captured the region from Kilimanjaro to Dar-es-Salaam, 
whilst the Belgians gradually occupied the western part of 
German East Africa, from the Great Lakes to Tabora, and 
General Northey the south-west part of the country. The 
Germans were thus restricted to the south, the south-centre 
and south-eastern regions, except the actual coast-line. 
Ti^s" After evacuating Tabora the German troops in that 
region, who were under General Wahle, retired south-east 
towards Mahenge, a government station on a high plateau 
centraUy situated between the northern end of Lake Nyasa 
and the sea at Kilwa. Part of the enemy force which had 
opposed General Smuts also retreated to Mahenge, its com- 
manding officer being Major Kraut. In its retreat General 
Wahle's force harried, and was harried by. General Northey's 
columns. Wahle broke through the British lines and joined 
Kraut, who was being threatened from the north by General 
Van Deventer, the commander of General Smuts' Second 
Division. In the closing days of 1916 and the beginning 
of 1917 a combined effort was made by Generals Van De- 
venter and Northey to ' round up ' the Germans holding 
the Mahenge plateau. The movement promised success, 
but, in the words of General Smuts, the enemy ' eventually 



342 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

escaped through the dense bush and forest under cover of 
darkness, and eluded pursuit.' 

" Meantime the main enemy force, under Colonel von 
Lettow-Vorbeck, upon whom the Kaiser in November, 1916, 
conferred the Ordre Pour le Merite, had been driven by 
General Smuts to the region of the Rufigi, south of Dar-es- 
Salaam. At this period General Smuts reorganized his 
forces, and, in view of the extremely unhealthy character 
of the country in which further operations were to be con- 
ducted, as many as possible of the white troops from South 
Africa were sent home, over 12,000 leaving East Africa 
between the middle of October and the end of December, 
1916. They were replaced by newly raised battahons of 
King's African Rifles and by a Nigerian Brigade under 
General Cunliffe. On January i, 1917, General Smuts 
began a new offensive in the Ruligi area, his object being to 
cut all connection between the enemy in the Rufigi and 
Mahenge regions and either to envelop the enemy on the 
Rufigi or to deal a heavy blow as he escaped south. The last 
object was accomplished ; a heavy blow was inflicted upon 
von Lettow-Vorbeck's force, but it was not brought to a 
decisive engagement. This brief campaign was ended in 
March by the advent of the rainy season. While it was in 
progress General Smuts was summoned to England to repre- 
sent South Africa in the special sittings of the War Cabinet. 
He rehnquished his command on January 20, 1917, being 
succeeded by Major-General A. R. Hoskins, c.m.g., d.s.o., 
who had previously commanded the First Division." — 
" The Times History and Encyclopaedia of the War," the 
campaign in German East Africa (HI), pp. 397-398. 

On December 8th, the Royal Fusihers went in open trucks 
by rail to Mikesse, near Morogoro, and from thence had a 
very trying eight days' march to Kissaki. During this and 
previous marches Selous never rode a yard of the way, but 
marched like his men, living on their rough fare and enduring 
the constant rain and soaking bivouacs with stoical in- 
difference. On December 15th he writes to his wife from 
Tulo :— 

" We are now marching to Kissaki, and from there will 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 343 

probably advance and attack the Germans on the Rufigi river. 
Very heavy rains have now set in, and we have had rather 
a bad time of it, and our detachment has shrunk from 384 
to 170, with which we march to-day. We hear the bridge 
over the Rufigi river has been washed away by the floods 
and the German forces cut in two." 

One of his last letters, written on Christmas Day, 1916, 
from Kissaki, states : — 

" We are on the eve of an attack on the Germans out 
here. Their lines here are quite close to ours, our forces are 
gathering, and we shall now attack their Unes in several 
places simultaneously in a few days. Our forces are terribly 
depleted principally from sickness. The German forces are 
sure to be entrenching, and as they still have a number of 
machine-guns, it may be no child's play attacking their 
positions, and we may meet with heavy losses." 

During the last three weeks of 1916, General Smuts 
(except for Van Deventer's Division) had not been engaged 
in important operations but was busy reorganizing his 
columns. Von Lettow-Vorbeck was, however, forced out 
of Kissaki on September 15th, by the brigade under Brits 
and Nussey. He then took up his position between the 
Ingeta and Rufigi rivers, where he remained until January 
ist, when General Smuts began another offensive from 
Kissaki. 

An attack wa^ made on the German positions by General 
Smuts on December 2nd, but the- enemy again escaped and 
took up a fresh position in dense bush on the Beho-Beho 
ridge. All January 2nd and 3rd General Smuts spent in 
developing a new encircling movement of which the following 
is the " Times " History account : — 

" The troops, which had to march through most difficult 
country, got in touch with the enemy again on the after- 
noon of the 3rd, and at 10.30 a.m. on January 4th Sheppard's 
Brigade caught up the chief enemy force as it was retiring 
from Beho-Beho. A sharp engagement followed, but 
though severely handled the enemy ' again sUpped past,' 
to use General Smuts' phrase. The brunt of the action 
was borne by the 25th Royal Fusiliers (the Legion of 



344 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Frontiersmen). During the fight Captain F. C. Selous fell 
at the head of his company. He was buried under the 
shadow of a tamarind tree, beside the graves of members 
of his company who fell at the same time. Thus ended the 
life of the most distinguished of the hunter-naturaUsts of 
recent years, the man who had opened up thousands of 
miles of South Central Africa. Throughout the campaign, 
though well over sixty, he had set an example of endurance 
and devotion to duty unexcelled by any member of the 
force. As stated in Chapter CLXXXHI, he had already 
been given the D.S.O. in recognition of his services. None 
knew better than Selous the dangers and difficulties of the 
campaign. Writing home from Tanga in November, 1916, 
he set forth some of these difficulties, adding : ' I shall try 
and hold out to the end, if possible, or, at any rate, as long 
as my health and strength last. General Smuts is now 
working ... for the next forward movement, and when he 
is ready the remnants of my battalion will join him.' " 

General J. Smuts, who was in command of the British 
Forces in German East Africa, has kindly given me the 
following account of the fight at Beho-Beho, Sugar Mountain, 
on January 4th, 1917, when Selous met his death. General 
Smuts, with the aid of a large-scale map, personally ex- 
plained to me the feature of the operations on that day, 
and though it was instrumental in driving the enemy from 
their positions, causing them to retreat to the Rufigi river, 
it did not result in the capture of the enemy's force, which 
it was hoped would be the case. 

" Our force moved out from Kissaki early on the morning 
of January 4th, 19 17, with the object of attacking and 
surrounding a considerable number of German troops which 
was encamped along the low hills east of Beho-Beho (Sugar 
Mountain) N.E. of the road that led from Kissaki S.E. to 
the Rufigi river, distant some 13 miles from the enemy's 
position. The low hills occupied by the Germans were 
densely covered with thorn-bush and the visibility to the 
west was not good. Nevertheless, they soon reahzed the 
danger of their position when they detected a circling move- 
ment on the part of the 25 th Royal Fusiliers, which had 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 345 

been detailed to stop them on the road leading S.E., the 
only road, in fact, by which they could retreat. They 
must have retired early, for their forces came to this point 
at the exact moment when the leading company of Fusi- 
liers, under Captain Selous, reached the same point. Heavy 
firing on both sides then commenced, and Selous at once 
deployed his company, attacked the Germans, which 
greatly outnumbered him, and drove them back into the 
bush. It was at this moment that Selous was struck dead 
by a shot in the head. The Germans retreated in the dense 
bush again, and the Fusiliers failed to come to close quarters, 
or the enemy then made a circuit through the bush and 
reached the road lower down, eventually crossing the 
Rufigi." 

;: ■ When he came to the road, Selous and his company met 
the German advanced guard, which probably outnumbered 
his force five to one. He had, however, received his orders 
to prevent, if possible, the enemy from reaching the road 
and retreating, so he immediately extended his company 
and himself went forward to reconnoitre. It was whilst 
using his glasses to ascertain the position of the enemy's 
advance guard that Selous received a bullet in his head and 
was killed instantly. 1 

Thus died Frederick Selous of the Great Heart, a splendid 
Enghshman, who in spite of age and love of life, gave up all 
pleasant things to follow the iron path of duty. To him 
his country's needs were ever before his private interests. 
Like the voyageurs of old he was ever looking for some 
far-off country where his restless soul could sleep in peace. 
Let us hope that he found his Valhalla on that day. 

He sleeps with other gallant comrades who fell beside 
him in the heart of Africa, far from home and loved ones. 
Yet it seems fitting that he should He at last in the land 
of his dreams, where he laboured so much, and where his 

^ Colonel Driscoll, who commanded the 25th Royal FusiUers, writes : 
" Captain Selous, the great hunter, was one of the hardest men in the 
battahon, in spite of his 65 years. He was shot dead while leading his 
company through the bush against an enemy four times their strength. 
Lieutenant Dutch, another very gallant man, took his place and received 
a mortal wound immediately afterwards." 



346 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

name will never be forgotten. No sculptured mausoleum 
records his prowess, but only a simple wooden cross bearing 
his name and that of his good comrades stands beneath the 
shade of a tamarind tree in the woody forest, where the bush- 
cuckoo heralds the dawn and the Hon roars his requiem to 
the night. 

•' Under the wide and starry sky, 
Dig the grave and let me he. 
Glad did I live and gladly die, 

And I laid me down with a will. 
This be the verse you grave for me ; 
Here lie lies where he longed lo be. 
Home is the sailor, home from the sea, 

And the hunter home from the hill." 

I am indebted to Captain R. M. Haines of the South 
African Forces for the following account of Selous' life from 
the time he landed at Mombasa till his death : — 

" I did not actually bury Captain Selous, but I was present 
at his funeral. I think I had better give you his doings 
from about the end of August. He came out for the second 
time about the end of August, 1916, and landed at Mombasa 
(via the Cape) with a draft of about 400 new men for the 
25th R. Fusiliers. He took these up the Uganda Railway 
to a small detail camp called Korogwe, in the Usambara 
Valley. After waiting there for a week or two, he brought 
the draft to Tanga, when to his intense disgust he was 
held up for nearly eight weeks. In the meantime the original 
part of the regiment was trekking down the centre of the 
country towards the German Central Railway. Whilst at 
Tanga, he lived in a house with Captain MacMillan, whom 
you probably know. It was here that he heard he had been 
awarded the D.S.O. Whilst we were waiting here, he 
frequently gave the men lectures on his early life in South 
Africa, to their intense delight. Here I first met him. 
He was literally adored by the men. From a boy he had 
always been a hero of mine, and to my great joy I actually 
met him. He wore a double Terai grey slouch hat, sHghtly 
on the back of his head. Khaki knickerbockers, with no 
puttees, bare legs, except for his socks, and shirt open at 
the neck, with a knotted handkerchief round the neck to 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 347 

keep the sun off, with a long native stick in his hand. He 
had a rooted objection to wearing a cork helmet. It is 
impossible to forget the impression he made. He was as 
straight as a guardsman, with a broad deep chest, with a 
beautiful healthy look in his face. 

" We left Tanga, on board an armed merchantman, 
at the end of November, and after calling in at Zanzibar 
for a few hours, arrived at Dar-es-Salaam. At Zanzibar 
I went ashore with him and had breakfast at the 
English club. We were landed at Dar-es-Salaam at about 
10.30 at night and went into the local detail camp. He 
remained there about a week and was then sent up to take 
up the draft he had brought out to Kissaki, which is about 
100 miles south of the German Central Railway, where the 
rest of the regiment was waiting. 

(Here I went down with fever, and so had to stay behind 
for two weeks.) 

" He went by train to Mikessi, about 150 miles up the 
Central Railway, and from there started with his draft of 
400 men to reach the regiment. He reached Kissaki in a 
fortnight. This is practically the last point where any life 
exists, except game, in this part of the country. In many 
ways it is terrible country ; there are no names, save such 
names as we gave it, no roads. It is covered with thick 
elephant-grass, six to eight feet high, and very thick thorn- 
bush and swamp. Although I was one of them, I honestly 
think that the sufferings of the troops in this horrible trek 
have hardly been exceeded by any in the war. There was 
only filthy water, we marched on half - rations, with no 
bread at all, only flour being issued and occasionally biscuit. 
The whole country was poisonous with fever and ' black- 
water ' ; hardly any natives live here, as it is too poisonous. 
Most of the men went sick and died like flies. It was just 
south of Kissaki he caught the regiment up. He was just 
as cheerful as a schoolboy. 

" The day he was killed, I passed him in the morning 
with his company, I was driving an armoured machine-gun, 
as the driver was ill. As I passed him, I shouted out, ' I 
shall be back and have tea with you to-day, sir,' for we 



348 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

used to joke him about his habit of drinking tea with every 
meal. 

" That was the last I saw of him. There was some 
lighting in the bush during the day, and when I came back 
in the afternoon I was greeted with the news of his death. 
I was just in time to see him buried. He was sewn up in a 
blanket, and buried with live other men of the R. Fusiliers. 
I was told he was first wounded in the right arm, which was 
broken, but was bandaged up, and he remained with his 
company. 1 

" A little later he was again hit in the mouth and was 
killed instantaneously and apparently painlessly. 

" A little space was cleared in the bush and he was buried, 
at one of the most impressive services I have ever attended, 
the same day in the afternoon. I intended to photograph 
the spot, but next day I went down with a bad attack of 
blackwater fever, and the next few weeks are a complete 
blank to me. My memory is still somewhat out of gear. 
My diary and camera were missing when I came round, 
and so all my exact records are going to some scamp. He 
is buried about 60 miles south of Kissaki, in a nameless spot, 
but if you will wait a month or two I may yet be able to 
get you some photographs and further details. 

" As I said before, he was always my hero as a boy in 
books, and he remains so now. He had all that simplicity 
and modesty of great men. He was the easiest of all men 
to cheat, but yet no one ever dared to do it. He was a 
moral antiseptic in a country where men are not saints. 
Anything mean or sordid hterally shrivelled up in his 
presence. 

1 Mr. Lamb also mentions that Selous was wounded before he was 
killed, but this is contradicted by others who were present. Mr. Denis 
LyeU, \vriting in the " Field," August 17th, 1918, says: " Details of his 
death were given to Mr. W. Watmough by a friend in his regiment who was 
present. He says : ' Capt. Selous was shot through the head and right 
side. We were on a crest line at the time with the Germans in front and on 
both flanks. We were subjected to very heavy enfilade fire, and could 
not locate the enemy properly owing to the wooded nature of their positions. 
At this stage Selous went forward down the slope about fifteen yards, 
and was just raising his glasses in order to see (more particularly) where 
certain snipers were when he received his first wound in the side. He was 
half -turning towards us when he was shot through the side of the head. 
He died immediately.' " 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 349 

" Although I am a young man, my fate has led me to 

travel in all our white colonies, and I can honestly say that 

of all the men I have met, good or bad (and they have been 

mostly good), no one has ever left me with the impression 

of being a ' whiter ' man, or who was a more perfect 

English gentleman. ,, ^ .^ ^^ o a -n .» 

^ '^ R. M. Haines, S.A.F. 



Mr. P. H. Lamb, writing in " The Field," June i8th, 
1918, gives some details of the actual position of Selous' 
grave, of which he furnishes a photograph. 

" The geographical position of his grave is approximately 
lat. 7 deg. S., long. 38 deg. E. It is not near any village 
but lies only a few yards to the east of the main road leading 
south from Mikesse, on the Central Railway to the Rufigi 
river, from which it is about 10 miles distant. There is a 
stream crossing the road at this point. It was here that the 
gallant 25th Royal Fusiliers were camped on the day 
(January 4, 1917) when Selous was killed. It was to this 
spot that the fallen hero was carried. 

" The graveyard is situated close by the old camp, and 
contained at the time of my visit seven simple wooden 
crosses. Besides the one in memory of Captain Selous are 
those of Sergeant Knight, Lance-Corporal Evans, and 
Privates Taylor and Evans, all of the Royal Fusiliers, who 
were killed on the same day. The other two graves are those 
of privates of the British West Indies Regiment who died 
at the same place months later. The precise spot where 
Selous was fighting when he was first wounded was pointed 
out to me. It was among some small knolls which lie about 
a mile to the north, on which the present camp, known as 
Chogawali, has since been built. . . . 

" The stream running by the spot where Captain Selous' 
remains are laid to rest is the last fresh water met with along 
the road before reaching the Rufigi. It is for the most part 
a wild inhospitable district — the haunt of a great variety 
of big game, including elephants, giraffes, and rhinos. 
Not more than four miles away is a warm salt spring running 
down into a salt lake, where hippos, wild ducks, egrets, and 



350 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

numerous other wild fowl abound. But despite these 
alleviations it can hardly be called a fascinating part of the 
country, and the object of most people who have seen it 
will be to avoid it carefully in the future." 

The war in German East Africa dragged its slow length 
along throughout 1917, in November of which year it may 
be said to have terminated, when the remnant of the 
German forces under Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck were 
driven right across the borders into Portuguese territory. 
There, owing to the rainy season in the early part of 1918, 
they split up into small parties and searched the country 
for native supplies, being finally (September, 1918) forced 
into the low-lying country between the north of the Zambesi 
and the coast. 

Since then they have attacked various Portuguese 
stations and encampments and taken fresh supplies of 
provisions, medical necessaries and ammunition and are 
still (September, 1918) causing much trouble to trace, 
British forces relentlessly pursuing them. Colonel R. 
Meinertzhagen, who is well acquainted with the local 
conditions, writes : — 

" The campaign is not over to-day (August ist, 1918), 
and it is by no means impossible that Von Lettow breaks 
north again into his old colony. ^ He is an exceptional man 
of iron will and great personality. I met him in Tanga in 
November, 1914, and he then declared that even though 
we might drive him from his colony he would fight to the 
last, and that he would never be taken alive." 

Commenting on the great difficulties of the campaign, 
General Smuts, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical 
Society (January 28th, 1918), designated the travels of 
Livingstone and Selous as mere " 303;^ rides " compared to 
what had been done by Empire troops in East Africa. 

" The Germans," he remarked, " are not in search of 
colonies after the English model. Not colonies, but military 
power and strategic positions for a great Central African 
Empire, comprising not only her colonies before the war, 

^ This view has proved to be correct. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 35i 

but also all the English, French, Belgian, and Portuguese 
possessions south of the Sahara and Lake Chad, and north 
of the Zambesi river in South Africa. 

" Towards this objective she was steadily marching even 
before the war broke out, and she claims the return of her 
lost African colonies at the end of the war as a starting- 
point from which to resume the interrupted march. This 
Central African block was intended in the first place to 
supply the economic requirements and raw materials of 
German industry, and in the second and far more important 
place to become the recruiting ground of vast armies. The 
natural harbours on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were 
to supply the naval and submarine bases from which both 
ocean routes would be dominated and British and American 
sea-power be brought to naught. 

" No fresh extension of Prussian militarism to other 
continents and seas should be tolerated, and the conquered 
German colonies can only be regarded as guarantees for the 
security of the future peace of the world. The premature 
or unwise restoration of German East Africa to its former 
owners might have consequences reaching far beyond the 
confines of the African continent. Perhaps I may be 
allowed to express the fervent hope that a land where so 
many of our heroes lost their lives may never be allowed 
to become a menace to the future peaceful development 
of the world." 

All of which is very true, for after the war, if German East 
Africa is restored to Germany, as some of our socialists, 
like Mr Wells, seem to desire, it is a certainty that in time 
we shall lose all our South African possessions as well as 
those in the north. 



CHAPTER XV 

CHARACTER, APPEARANCE, ETC. — SOME STORIES OF HIM 

PERHAPS Selous' chief success as a hunter lay in his 
untiring energy and fearless intention to gain some 
desired object. He brought the same force into 
play in pursuit of a bull elephant as of a small butterfly, and 
allowed nothing to stand in his way to achieve success. 
Time, distance, difficulty, or danger were all things that 
could be conquered by a man of strong will, and his bodily 
strength was such that even to the end he almost achieved 
the virility of perfect youth. He would come back from 
the early morning hunt, the best time of all for pursuing 
big game, and have some breakfast. Then, when others 
were tired and glad of some hours' sleep in the camp or 
waggon, he would call a native boy to carry his rifle and a 
few cartridges — in case of an unexpected meeting with 
some rare animal — take his butterfly-net and collecting-box, 
to spend the hot hours of the day in search of Lepidoptera. 
Few men, even young men in the prime of life, are capable 
of pursuing insects under a tropical sun after the fatigue 
of the early morning hunt, but Selous not only did this 
almost to the day of his death, but also went out again in 
search of big game in the hours between three o'clock and 
sunset. 

It was his untirmg love of Nature and the possible 
capture of some victim new to science that always drove 
him on and banished fatigue. His whipcord frame responded 
readily to all the calls he made upon it, for from his youth 
he had inured himself to strain and privation, and was 
extremely moderate in any indulgence. He ate less than 
most men, and never drank anything but tea, which he 
enjoyed at every meal. Sometimes he drank champagne 

352 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 353 

at big dinners, but rich wines and high feeding had no 
attractions for him. 

He always rated himself as a very moderate shot, and 
doubtless, in the early days, when he was only armed with 
clumsy and indifferent weapons, his success was not always 
of a high order, but with the advent of rifles of greater pre- 
cision he was certainly a good shot, and he killed a large 
proportion of the game he fired at. This was especially so 
when he got what he described as his first first-class rifle, a 
•450 single shot, made by Gibbs, of Bristol, and with this 
he killed a large quantity of game. All of us who are big 
game hunters, however, know how greatly the average of 
hits has advanced since the introduction of the small-bore 
high- velocity rifles. In 1895 came the British -303, the 
German -275 Mauser, and the Roumanian -256 Mannlicher, 
and these weapons possess such accuracy and flatness of 
trajectory that a poor shot becomes a moderate one, a good 
shot a first-class one, and a first-class performer something 
remarkable. Since 1900 some firms, notably John Rigby, 
have utilized the best points^pf these smaller weapons 
to make them successful on the largest and most dangerous 
game in the hands of experienced men, and have invented 
weapons of tremendous hitting power with magazine rapidity 
of fire. 

^J^- London gunmakers were so anxious for Selous to use 
every new weapon they put on the market that he was 
bombarded with gifts of new weapons, in the hope that he 
would use them and advertise their wares. In many cases 
he did accept them, and between 1896 and 1915 he tried, on 
his numerous trips, perhaps a dozen different rifles. In this 
he admitted that he made a great mistake, for he would have 
done much better it he had adhered to one rifle for small 
game, such as the common -256 Mannlicher, and one large 
one, such as the -450 Rigby for heavy or dangerous animals. 
Many of these new rifles, though they nearly all shot well 
when they worked, developed glaring faults in magazine con- 
struction or defective bullets. What does well enough on 
the target at home is often quite a failure in the wear and 
tear of the African wilderness. A bullet that " mushrooms " 

2 A 



354 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

nicely on the carcase of a horse may completely fail to stop 
a tough African antelope, and so on. Thus Selous lost his 
faith in specious promises, and often wished he had stuck 
to his old -450 single-shot Gibbs, which always gave good 
results on all medium-sized game, and even on the few 
occasions when he met elephants. 

As an example of Selous' practical nature with regard to 
rifles, and the absolute necessity of testing them thoroughly 
before field-use, he told me one day the following story : — 

At a leading London gunmaker's he had ordered a heavy 
high-velocity rifle, which he intended to use on large game 
in one of his more recent expeditions. As so often happens, 
the gunmaker in question delayed the delivery of the 
weapon till the very last moment, and one hour before he 
was to depart for Africa, Selous found himself in possession 
of a new weapon whose sighting and cartridges he had not 
tested. Now, to a man of his experience, such a thing as 
taking a rifle to Africa without first shooting it carefully 
was unheard of. The cartridges might not fit, or the sights 
might be set too high or too low. There was only one thing 
to be done, he must test the rifle somehow, even though 
located as he was in a house in Regent's Park. Calling 
the servant he asked her to get a cab and put all his kit 
therein and to place his hat and coat ready in the hall. 
When the maid announced that this had been done, he 
then opened his bedroom-window, and selecting a neighbour- 
ing chimney-stack, at about 100 yards distance, he fired 
five shots in quick succession. 

The effect in the densely populated neighbourhood may 
be more easily imagined than described. Heads appeared 
at every window and knots of people began to assemble in 
the streets below. Wliat on earth was happening ? Had 
someone suddenly gone mad ? Was a murder being per- 
petrated, or had the Germans landed ? Selous quickly got 
out his field-glasses, and noticed that the pattern on the 
brick chimney was distinctly good. He then carefully 
cleaned the rifle and put it in its case, donned his hat and 
coat, and opened the front door. Here was assembled a 
group of scared people, whilst a policeman was seen hastily 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 355 

crossing the road. Someone asked him as he entered the 
cab if he had heard the shots, and the old hunter repHed 
that he had, and that the sounds seemed to have come from 
one of the rooms above. So Selous tried his rifle and went 
on his way rejoicing. 

Speaking of him as a hunter, Sir Alfred Pease, himself one 
of our best performers in the field, writes : — 

" It would be easier to write more fully of Selous, if he 
had occasionally ' broken out ' ard ' bucked ' a bit — his 
very modesty and reserve and his care about what he said 
and his delightful simple-heartedness concerning his own 
achievements^ were something difficult to cope with — 
much as they added to the charm and attractiveness of 
the man and fortified one's confidence in him. To me that 
he was absolutely true and the pure stuff was what made 
him stand out. Personally I never saw him do anything 
brilliant — I have seen many men shoot better, quicker, and 
so on, but no man who got so much or at any rate any 
more interest out of all that pertains to a hunter's and 
naturalist's life. He was a rather deliberate than quick 
observer, as far as I can judge, but when he had reached a 
conclusion you might lay your money he was right. I re- 
member one day being rather inclined (being myself of an 
eager, quick, and perhaps impatient nature) to think him 
tiresome. He was with me at Kilanga (my B.E.A. farm), 
and said, ' Now I want to get a good Kongoni ' (Coke's 
Hartebeest) — we were standing where there were always 
hundreds, and often thousands, in sight. We regarded 
Kongoni like the flocks on a hundred mountains. The old 
bulls' heads were much alike ; in early days I had measured 
perhaps a dozen, and did not find that any one was much 
more interesting than another. I said I didn't know that I 
could help him, ' they were much of a muchness.' He asked 
me questions about measurements and weights and so on, 
most of which I could not answer. I told him there were 

^ Writing to H. F. Wallace in 191 1 Selous speaks of his own capacity 
in characteristic style : " That quotation (in your article) from Roosevelt's 
book as to my being ' the greatest of the world's big game hunters ' is all 
bunkum. Because I have hunted a lot, that is not to say I am a specially 
good hunter." 



356 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

plenty to choose from, and off he went and spent the whole 
of a hot day trjdng to find a ' specimen ' worth having. He 
returned at night with a head and neck, and then the in- 
quisition began again after measuring and remeasuring, and 
after a time (perhaps he was two hours messing about with 
his Kongoni head in the evening, after a tiring day, when I 
wanted him to come in and sit down) he came to the con- 
clusion that there was not much difference between his head 
and the horns lining about of those we had shot for meat. 
He went to Juja (MacMillan's), and a few days after showed 
me two other heads he had got there, and no doubt had 
given the same exertion and examination to get, and with 
not much different result. It is well for science that there 
are such men, and some of my neighbours were amazed at 
this man, whose great reputation had reached them, and 
had expected to see him galloping after lions and shooting 
them from the saddle, etc., bothering himself over Kongoni 
heads, but I must say I admired immensely this persistence 
to get at a definite knowledge about a common beast." 

It is a little difficult to gauge the shooting quality of a 
man by reading published works, because rifle-shooting 
at big game in various countries involves such various con- 
ditions. In Scotland, Norway, and the high grounds of 
Europe, Asia, and America, a good shot would probably 
kill ten beasts out of every fifteen or twenty cartridges 
expended, or even less. Many men do not take " all 
chances," moving or otherwise, whilst the best hunters do 
take all targets offered at a good head and at aU ranges up 
to 350 yards, but in the plains and forests of Africa the 
average of shots fired is far higher, because the conditions 
are more difficult, and, broadly speaking, from three to 
six shots 1 are required in the course of a trip to every animal 
brought to bag. In Africa visibility, except in the early 
morning and late evening, is curtailed by refraction from 
the earth of the sun's rays, and animals are much shyer ; 
on the plains and in the bush it is difficult to pick out the 
best head or to see it clearly. Often too, especially in bush, 
the shot is hurried, and has to be taken when the shooter 

^ According to the quality of the shooter. 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 357 

is standing in a bad position. There is always too the 
nervous tension on the part of the hunter when pursuing 
dangerous game, a nervousness not necessarily fear, which 
makes him ever on the alert for danger or alarm caused by 
some other animal of the same herd. All these circumstances 
create other conditions unfavourable to good shooting, 
although they undoubtedly add to the charm of African 
sport. In earlier days too in South Africa (and more 
recently sometimes in East Africa) most of the game killed 
was shot after riding down the animal or quickly galloping 
after it and jumping off for the shot as soon as the beast 
came to a standstill and was not greatly alarmed. At this 
form of sport Selous was, when once well armed, a very 
skilful performer. His excellent horsemanship, fearless 
dash through " wait-a-bit " thorns, and keen eye enabled 
him almost invariably to run to a standstill almost any 
animal he had set out to chase, and though he admitted he 
frequently used many cartridges before he achieved success, 
I think he was a much better shot than he professed to be. 
In later years, when he hunted the beasts of the plain, 
forests, and mountains in Europe, Asia Minor, and North 
America, his expenditure of cartridges (if we read his books 
carefully) certainly proves him to have been a very good 
performer with the rifle. 

After his marriage, in 1895, he spent much of his time in 
England and took " seriously " to the shot-gun. I say 
" seriously," because everything he did was adopted with 
the same whole-heartedness that he brought to other 
things. At first it must be admitted he was a very poor 
performer, and did not kill any except the ordinary rising 
bird ; but, as time went on, he practised so assiduously 
that he was soon able to kill a few driven grouse and part- 
ridges. After twenty years he became quite a good shot, 
certainly above the average, but was always depressed that 
he could not master the slov/ness which is ever the lot of a 
man who takes up the shot-gun after middle age. Such, how- 
ever, was his persistence and determination to excel that on 
occasion he performed so well that his hosts thought he had 
been shooting with the smooth-bore all his life, and com- 



358 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

plimented him on his skill, I remember one day in par- 
ticular at Tatton Park, Lord Egerton's beautiful seat in 
Cheshire, when Selous really shot brilliantly and quite as well 
as any of the other guns, who were accoimted first-class shots. 
We killed over one thousand pheasants that day, and Selous 
took down the high birds with a speed and accuracy that 
I think even astonished himself. He was like a schoolboy 
in his joy that day at shooting so well, and as usual said it 
was a " fluke " and he could never do it again. Another 
day at Swythamley, where, at the invitation of our old 
friend, Sir Philip Brocklehurst, we drove the moor for grouse, 
Selous killed for the first time twenty birds at one stand. 
He was in the seventh heaven of delight, nearly walked us 
off our legs, and told us " lion " stories till far into the 
night. We had many happy days at Swythamley between 
the years 1896-1914, and Selous was always at his best 
there under the rain of " chaff " and practical jokes of our 
host. Sir Philip's two sons, the present Sir Philip, who 
accompanied Shackleton to the Antarctic, and Courtenay, 
a captain in the loth Hussars, and at present " flying " in 
East Africa, were boys after Selous' own heart, and have 
since become keen and successful big game hunters, whose 
youthful imagination Selous did so much to fire. At 
Swythamley we were all a happy party with congenial tastes 
and full of fun, and I always look back on the many delight- 
ful days we spent there as some of the best of life. 

He liked nearly all outdoor sports at different times. He 
played an energetic game of tennis and was a really good 
croquet -player. Most of all he loved cricket, and played 
regularly for his local club at Worplesdon, taking part in 
all their matches until 1915. When any gi'eat game was 
fought at Lord's, such as England v. Australia, he was 
generally there before the game began in the members' 
enclosure, and, much as he detested crowds, he with his 
wife would sit out the whole three days and watch every 
ball that went down. On such occasions he seldom spoke, 
but kept his eyes firmly fixed upon the players, noting the 
skill displayed on both sides. At Worplesdon he put such 
life into the local club that thev were soon able to leave the 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 359 

rough common where former matches were played and take 
and keep in order an excellent cricket-field. I played in 
some of these matches, which were rather of the " Dingley- 
Dell " type, and it was always a treat to see Fred standing 
so close " in " at " point " that he looked as if he would catch 
the batsman before he hit the ball. " Big Game Hunters 
V. Worplesdon " was always a great and solemn occasion. 

In his later years he was a most indefatigable cyclist, and 
thought nothing of riding over to see his friends thirty and 
forty miles away and back, even when he was over sixty years 
of age. Wlien at home he never rode in a car if he could 
avoid it, as his policy was ever to keep fit by physical 
exercise. 

The following is an example of his energy as a cyclist 
(September 5th, 1909) : — 

" I got home yesterday evening, having bicycled all the 
way from Gloucester — about 100 miles — in pouring rain 
most of the way, and over heavy, muddy roads, in just 
twelve hours, including stoppages for breakfast and lunch. 
I am not at all tired to-day, and next year, if I can get a 
fine day, I shall see if I cannot do 120 miles between day- 
light and dusk." Not bad for fifty-seven years of age. 

With regard to the personal appearance and character of 
the man, his hard, gruelling life had left him straight and 
well-conditioned at the age of sixty. Few men interested 
others so much. He stood for all that was best in romance 
and high adventure. His life was of the hardest, for he loved 
to pit his strength against the forces of Nature. From 
childhood he only knew physical discipline as a virtue and 
battle as a self -enforced necessity. In appearance he was 
deep-chested, straight as an arrow, and with immensely 
powerful muscles on his arms and legs. Latterly he was 
inclined to stoutness, but this was kept in check by con- 
stant exercise. If there was one striking feature in his 
physiognomy it was his wonderful eyes, as clear and blue as 
a summer sea. Nearly every one who came in contact with 
him noticed his eyes. They were the eyes of the man who 
looks into the beyond over vast spaces. Instinctively one 
saw in them the hunter and the man of wide views. Their 



36o THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

clarity of expression was so intense that any observer could 
see at a glance the whole nature of the mind that lay behind. 

In social intercourse Selous had a presence that was apt 
to make other people look insignificant. He was adored by 
all his friends, and even perfect strangers seemed to come 
under his magnetism at the first introduction. It was not 
only the interesting things he had to tell, and the way he 
told them, but the kindness of heart and modesty that 
forced their way through any narrative, and which seemed 
to grow upon him with the years. Often was he the most 
sympathetic of listeners, but as a rule he was a great 
talker and an unrivalled story-teller. His memory was 
marvellous. Never halting for a word, his tales would flow 
on for hours without a check, and he was so skilful in the 
art of telling a tale that he seldom repeated stories with 
which he knew his audience were familiar. Well as I knew 
him for twenty years, I have rarely heard him repeat him- 
self. Great as he was in this character, as powerful as any 
professional who holds his audience entranced in the court- 
yards of the Eastern cities, it was not a sense of vanity that 
inspired his volubility. It was always others who drew 
him on to talk, and he was so good-natured that he hated 
to leave his friends disappointed when he felt that stories 
were expected from him. Life was to him an endless 
adventure, and the freshness of his curiosity, the tireless 
spring of youth and romance, and the eagerness with which 
he attacked any subject, were such as to cause delight in 
the minds of all men who love to hear of high adventure and 
are yet debarred from playing their part. Nothing could 
quench his ardour when once his mind was set upon a thing. 
To hear him was to experience some fresh breeze blowing 
off the shores of youth. He possessed charm in the highest 
degree because he always seemed to like best the people he 
was with. He led his audience along pleasant ways and 
knew the secret of raising others to the plane of his own 
intellectual level. Alternately he was romantic, brilliant, 
fiery, brave, or kind, and thus ran through the gamut of 
human emotions. 

Yet with all his high enthusiasm he alwavs displayed a 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 361 

curious diffidence as regards his own exploits — a modesty 
that perhaps endeared him best to those who loved him, for 
he was like all big men — a man who had no illusions. In all 
success he was ever alive to his own limitations, and none 
was more severe than he upon himself when he felt he had 
done some foolish thing or failed in some achievement from 
want of knowledge or skill. Few people knew how hardly 
he judged himself, or what anxieties he passed through 
before attacking some new problem. But the mental drag 
was there nevertheless, and though he may have laughed at 
it afterwards, there was something curiously feminine and 
introspective in his dual nature. 

In many of the letters written during his early life in 
Africa, there is a certain strain of melancholy which seemed 
to overwhelm him when he found that after all his efforts to 
" make good," the results had not been a financial success. 
But these times of sadness were for the most part only 
temporary, and soon gave way under the influence of fresh 
enterprise, 

" It was curious," writes his sister, Mrs. A. Jones, "that 
for all my brother's splendid health, great and varied 
interests, and good spirits — though not of the wildly elated 
kind — there was a strain of sadness in his nature, and he had 
not the love of life that would have seemed so natural — 
though there seemed to be so much in his life to live for. I 
have often heard him say that he would not mind dying at 
all, or would as soon die as live, or some expression to that 
effect. He was very philanthropic, and accepted any 
reverse of fortune or disappointment with calmness and 
fortitude. He suffered much, I think, through his views on 
the Boer War, but he was steadfast and true to his beliefs 
and principles always, and in this he showed a fine and 
noble spirit. This high sense of honour and integrity shone 
out like a bright star from a very feebly lit world in this 
respect. To me he was ever the most loving and tender 
brother, and his loss I shall ever lament." 

All men and women have a real age which never leaves 
them from the cradle to the grave. Some are always twenty, 
and others drag through life with the soul of sixty. Fred 



362 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Selons was one of those happy creatures who die yonng, for 
he never resigned his youthful ideals. 

He had a great sympathy with emotional people. Good 
acting or the " French temperament " appealed to him. 
Though slow to anger as a rule, it was not rare to see him 
spring from his chair and jerk his head fiercely from side 
to side at any story of injustice. The Norman blood in his 
veins caused him to like the French and to appreciate their 
" bonhomie " and excitability. With him too it was 
always near the surface — ready to sympathize, swift to 
resent — but over it all was the iron check of Scottish 
caution. 

One night in Vienna, in 1910, Prince Henry Liechtenstein 
gave a little dinner party at " Sacher's." Slatin Pasha was 
there, and told us some interesting stories of his adventures 
as a captive of the Mahdi. Then came what I thought to 
be a somewhat garbled version of the Fashoda incident. 
Finally he made certain remarks, in very bad taste, of the 
leave-taking of Marchand with the French colony at the 
Cairo railway station. To him it was exceedingly " funny " 
that Marchand should burst into tears and kiss his friends. 
I got angry at this, and we had a somewhat heated passage 
of words. " Why," he sneered in conclusion, " what had 
Marchand to complain of — he was only a miserable Captain 
before, and was now made a Colonel." Such a gross mis- 
understanding of a man's temperament and ideals and am- 
bitions seemed deplorable indeed. It was quite German in its 
total failure to appreciate national psychology. In those 
two years of trial, privation and danger which Marchand 
had to face what must his thoughts have been. Twice on 
the road his expedition met with disaster from sickness, 
desertion and other causes. Yet he had re-formed it and 
marched successfully across unknown Africa from West to 
East with a handful of Senegalese sharpshooters, courting 
almost certain death at the end at the hands of the Mahdists. 
Only our expedition to Khartoum had saved him, by 
destroying the power of the Khalifa at the eleventh hour. 
What did such a man as he care for a trumpery military 
advancement ? He was out to do his duty for France, and he 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 363 

did it where nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of a 
thousand would have failed . He achieved his end, but owing 
to our policy — for once strong — his Government failed him. 
Marchand was truly a great man. When I told this trifhng 
incident to Selous he seemed to be thrown into a frenzy of 
rage, for I did not then know his views on Marchand. 
" Wliy," he shouted, " Marchand did the biggest thing any 
man has ever done in Africa, and of course no one knows it — 
I should like to kiss him myself ! " 

In speaking his voice possessed a singularly rich tone and 
resonance, and with all it carried a sympathetic quality that 
seemed to play directly on the heartstrings of his audience. 
Such gestures as he used were purely natural and necessary, 
and though possessing the volubility and excitable tempera- 
ment of the southern races, the northern strain kept in 
check any excessive gesticulation. Although latterly his 
hearing was poor, he possessed a wonderful discrimination 
in shades of pronunciation when making use of native or 
foreign languages. Ever alive to the picturesque or the 
romantic, he clothed his stories in the language of which the 
true story-teller has the key, whilst over all hung the in- 
delible stamp of truth and accuracy that characterized the 
man himself. His thoughts ranged over a wide field of 
emotions and ideas, in which chivalry perhaps played the 
most important part. It was always present in all his 
thoughts and acts. This with the intense energy or " fury 
of play," backed by the vehemence of emotion, carried him 
far in the higher flights both ol act and imagination. " It 
is easy to be an ass and to follow the multitude like a blind 
besotted bull in a stampede," says Stevenson. Selous 
followed no leader but himself. Success left him humble, 
and the sharp ferule of calamity only crushed him for the 
moment. As he hated conventionality, so he loathed 
respectability — " that deadliest gag and wet blanket that 
can be laid on men." It meant nothing to him but the 
crystallized demeanour of spineless invertebrates. Thus 
when he spoke either in public or private life, he spoke direct 
from his heart and experience, and Men recognized the Man, 
He had a few mannerisms, and all have thai — ^but was never 



364 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

the victim of stereotyped phrase or trite quotation. He 
took infinite care in his composition, but seldom altered, 
once the wi'itten thought was on paper. Unhke most 
authors he did not prune the " flesh " off his " bones " 
until the residue was satisfactory. Every line was complete 
when once he had set it down, and his manuscripts are as 
unaltered as at the moment they were written. In his 
lectures, as in his writings, he seemed to complete his 
thoughts before they were transferred to speech or wTiting. 
Having made up his mind what to say he just delivered 
himself over, as it were, to the absorbing interest or ruling 
passion of the moment. All his written work cannot be 
said to be of equal merit. Perhaps his best efforts are to 
be found n " African Nature Notes and Reminiscences," 
in which his command of English reaches a high level, yet 
in al circmnstances, especially when narrating his own 
adventures in simple style such as in " A Hunter's Wander- 
ings," or his escape from the Mushukulumb^^•e, he enjoyed 
" the happy privilege of making lovers among his readers." 
He possessed a certain quiet gift of humour, which he seldom 
indulged in except in such quaint instances as the remarks 
he makes on the vicious horse he gave to Lobengula in the 
hope that he would give it to one of his chiefs whom Selous 
particularly detested. 

Pathos too, to the man who so frequently met with it, 
was something too terrible for soul disintegration. He 
often told me he simply could not speak of the circunistances 
of poor French's death in the bush in 1879. It hurt him so 
much. But romance, tragedy, the beautiful, the pictur- 
esque, or the noble deeds of unpretentious men all fell into 
their natural places in his scheme of colour and formed a 
completed whole that was the outcome of perfect spon- 
taneity and natural utterance. Thus he saw life in a vision 
as wide and untrammelled as the desolate plains he loved. 
He seemed to divine from his own experience how other 
men felt, and with the intensity of human sympathy knew 
how to encourage and console others in times of difftculty. 
To him no man was so poor that he was not ready to give 
him a " lift " on his waggon or through his purse. Sternness 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 365 

and tenderness were nearly matched in his conduct, the 
former for himself and the latter for the failings of others. 
In spite of his knowledge of the world he had no cynicism, 
his motto being to make things easier to those who were less 
fortunate than himself. He bore no grudge, nor did he feel 
sore at ingratitude, and might truly have said, " There is 
no man born with so little animosity as I." 

In later years Selous often confessed to an enduring 
restlessness. There was always so much to be done and so 
little time to do it. Even when at home, where he was 
perfectly happy and always immersed in some form of 
brain work or outdoor activity, this restlessness never left 
him. He felt it ever in his blood, and it would act like some 
violent force — most violent when the turmoil and pettiness 
of human life or the futile presence of crowds jarred upon 
him. Life in cities was to him so infinitely inferior to the 
grandeur of nature and interest of the unknown. Having 
tasted of the best it is hard after a life spent amid romance 
and adventure to settle down comfortably amidst the tiny 
affairs and tittle-tattle of everyday things at home. He 
hated intensely lawyers, politicians, theorists and men who 
daily live in the public eye without knowing anything of 
the great world in its wide sense. This spirit of restlessness 
seems to have been ever present in his later life. He con- 
fessed that he found it difficult to stay in England for more 
than six months at a time. There was always some new 
country and the pursuit of some new animals which he 
wished to add to his unique collection. Africa seemed to 
draw him like a loadstone, as it had always done, and its 
never-ceasing call was ever sounding in his ears. Even 
when on service in 1916 he talked with William Judd in 
Nairobi of a trip he wished to make with him, after the war 
had ended, to the Amala to get a really good black-maned 
lion. Yet when he was on board ship he confessed that he 
was overcome with such home-sickness that he felt incUned 
to " throw himself overboard and swim ashore." It must be 
admitted that he suffered to some extent in his later days 
from a disease which for want of a better word we must call 
the Nostalgia of Travel — ^a disease which attacks many old 



366 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

Big Game hunters — for often there comes a thue when 
weariness of actual travelHng creates depression, but in his 
subsequent letters from the actual hunting-giounds these 
adverse conditions disappear and he is once more keen and 
happy in the fascination of the chase and the clean condi- 
tions of a hunter's life. If we read carefully the classics in 
hunting and travel such as Baldwin, Neumann, Living- 
stone, etc., we constantly come across records of depression 
on the part of the writers. Were all the hardship, toil, 
dangers and the eternal difficulties of keeping an outfit in 
order and even temper good enough ? Was not all the 
money so hardly won to gain this trip not thrown away ? 
Would the elephants (it was generally elephants) or the rare 
horns ever be sighted ? Would the horses or oxen that were 
left be sufficient to carry the expedition through after the 
best had been killed or died of sickness ? And yet there was 
always an answer to these questions when the leaders were 
men of grit. Clouds pass away, men recover their spirits, 
and we find them writing, it may be a few weeks or even 
days afterwards, as if " all was lovely in the garden." 

All his life he was a great reader, and rather preferred the 
old " classics " of English literature to modern books, 
except those on travel and big game hunting, of which he 
had an extensive library. He would read again and again 
and enjoy the works of Thackeray and Dickens, and amongst 
poets Byron was his favourite. Of modern writers no one 
appealed to him so much as Thomas Hardy, ail of whose 
works found great favour, and especially " Tess of the 
D'Urbervilles," which he lightly esteemed as perhaps the 
greatest modern novel in the English language. Of writers 
on Big Game he esteemed highly Baldwin, Roosevelt, 
Charles Sheldon, Stewart Edward White, and Arthur Neu- 
mann. If he was bored in a crowd or had to wait at a rail- 
way station, he generally had a book in his pocket, and 
passed the hours happily in complete absorption of the 
author's descriptions. His tastes were wide, as we should 
expect, ranging from Tom Hood's humorous poems and 
such modern imaginative adventures as " Raffles " and 
" Stingaree " to Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Roman 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 367 

Empire." He considered " Robbery under Arms " the 
most delightful modern romance, with a substratum of 
fact, he had ever read, but it always held second place to 
" Tess." He loved novels about imaginary people leading 
heroic lives, suffering, loving, hating, adventuring and 
fighting — ^all on some high level above the petty joys and 
sorrows of a work-a-day world. 

Of his personal friends it is somewhat difficult to speak, 
as he knew so many in so many different lands. His circle 
of acquaintances was immense, though it was natural that 
his intimates should be men of similar tastes. In England 
we have a very excellent institution known as the " Shikari 
Club," an association of Big Game hunters founded by 
Captain C. E. Radclyffe, Captain P. B. Vanderbyl and 
Selous himself under the presidency of the Earl of Lonsdale. 
This club meets but once a year on the night of the Oaks, 
and members dine together at the Savoy Hotel. Here all 
matters relating to hunting throughout the world are 
discussed, plans are made for the future, and it is, as it were, 
a general meeting round the camp fire of brothers of the 
rifle. The camaraderie is excellent, and we all know and 
help each other with information as to future travels. 
Admission to its ranks is somewhat severe, for no man, 
unless he has proved himself to be a sportsman of the best 
type, is ever elected. Amongst these men, who have 
probably travelled and hunted more extensively than any 
other community in the world, Selous counted many 
close friends whose names are too numerous to mention, 
and from them he got the latest information for some 
projected trip just as he on his part helped many of them. 
Another club which at one time he constantly visited to 
hear discussions on the subject of birds was the British 
Ornithologists', a dining branch of the British Ornitho- 
logists' Union, where after dinner specimens of interest 
were exhibited, and discussions took place. Most of the 
principal members were his friends, as well as leading 
Zoologists in the Zoological Society and the British Museum 
(Natural History), whom it was always his pleasure to 
serve and help with new specimens. In later years nearly 



368 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

all his old South African friends were dead or had retired, 
so he saw little of them, but in England, after his return 
from South Africa, he made many new friends whose homes 
he constantly visited. From 1896 till the time of his death 
he often stayed with Lord Egerton of Tatton, whose son, 
the Hon. Maurice Egerton, whom he had first met in Alaska, 
was a great friend of his ; with Abel Chapman, with whom 
he had been at school at Rugb}^ and who had many kindred 
tastes ; with Heatley Noble, to whom he was much attached ; 
with Sir Philip Brocklehurst and his family, for whom he 
entertained a warm affection ; and with Mr. MacMillan, in 
Devonshire. These are only a few of the friends who were 
in intimate sympathy with him, and to whom he constantly 
wrote accounts of his more recent travels. I met him first 
in 1897, and from then until his death he wrote to me con- 
stantly, and never did either of us go on an expedition 
without his coming to see me or my going to Worplesdon 
to discuss the matter in the smallest detail. In those 
twenty years we both hunted or wandered in other lands 
every year, and I cannot adequately express what his warm 
friendship and help was to me, for when Selous opened 
his soul to anyone he did it with a whole-heartedness 
and an abandonment of all reserve that are rare in these 
days. In our lives there come only a few fellow-creatures 
to whom we can say anything that comes into our minds 
without being misinterpreted. Even in absence we think 
about them as they about us, and we know how they will 
rejoice at our successes and sympathize with our failures, 
because they know and understand. When such a man as 
Selous passes away, and we have enjoyed that intimacy, the 
world indeed seems desolate, even though we have the poor 
consolation that what has been was very good. 

In his own home Selous was hospitality itself, and loved 
to entertain visitors from all parts of the world who came 
to see him or his museum. Complete strangers were re- 
ceived with the same courtesy as intimate friends, and 
Selous would spend hours showing his trophies to anyone 
who exhibited the smallest interest in the subject. Officers 
from Aldershot or Naval men were alv\ays welcome, and I 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 369 

should think that a large portion of the British Army and 
Navy had at one time or another enjoyed the pleasure of 
seeing his trophies under his personal supervision, and it 
was this abandonment of self and personal interest in his 
fellow-creatures that made him so popular. 

One day I found him in fits of laughter over one of his 
visitors. A telegram had been received in the morning 
stating that Lewanika, chief of the Barotsi, whom he had 
known in old days, would visit him. His dusky majesty, 
attended by a cicerone, arrived in a very perturbed state of 
mind. It appeared that in the morning he had been re- 
ceived by His Majesty the King at Buckingham Palace, and 
when he left he was under the impression that he had not 
behaved properly in the royal presence. These fears were 
confirmed when the train which bore the party to Worples- 
don entered the long tunnel just before reaching Guildford. 
The absence of lights, and the darkness of the surroundings, 
seemed to have been the climax, for the dusky monarch 
dived under the seat of the carriage, and was with dif&culty 
removed when the train reached Guildford. Never before 
having experienced such a horrible thing as a tunnel, 
Lewanika considered that the English King was taking this 
new method to destroy him.^ 

As a man of such breadth of mind his friendships were 
cosmopolitan rather than insular. He had many friends in 
Austria, such as the three Counts Hoyos ; in America, such 
as President Roosevelt, Charles Sheldon, and the members 
of the Boone and Crockett Club ; in Asia Minor and Transyl- 
vania, such as Sir William Whittall and Consul Danford ; 
whilst in South Africa he knew everyone in all grades of 
politics or outdoor Hfe. To enumerate the men he knew well 
would fill a volume. 

'^ .^One of Fred's missionary friends in the pioneer days was 
the Rev. Isaac Shimmin, a type of those hard-working, un- 
assuming men who go out into the wilderness to do good to 

^ Tunnels seem to have some terrifjdng effect on the mind of the 
black man. I travelled to Africa in 1913 with the King of Uganda and 
used to play at draughts with him nearly every day. He expressed great 
pleasure at his recent visit to England and the hospitahty he had received 
there, but said he could not forget the horror of the tunnels on the railways. 

2 B 



370 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

others. He is kind enough to send me a few lines denoting 
Selous' attitude towards the spread of religion in the new 
country and his broad-minded tolerance of various creeds. 

"It is now nearly thirty years since I first met my old 
friend, Fred Selous. At that time I was living at Klerks- 
dorp, in the Transvaal, and among my friends were some 
who in former years had lived in the interior ; such as Mr. 
Thomas Leask, Mr, Alec Brown, and several others. I was 
therefore in the right atmosphere for hearing thrilling stories 
of African adventure, in which men like Hartley the hunter 
and Westbeech the trader had played a prominent part. 
For this little town had for years been the refitting station 
for men from the north, and because of this we always 
seemed in close touch with the regions beyond. One day I 
met Mr. H. C. Collison, and soon after I heard Mr. G. A. 
PhilHps (' Elephant Phil ') describe realistically an en- 
counter with a lion. But there was one name around 
which a halo of peculiar distinction had already gathered, 
for I noticed that when these men spoke of Selous it was 
always with a note of personal affection ; they not only 
admired him as a successful hunter, but they evidently 
loved him as a well-tried friend. And when I actually met 
him I soon recognized the charm of his simple and winning 
personality. The friendship which was then begun quickly 
ripened into an intimacy which lasted until the day of his 
death. I was only a young Wesley an minister, and he was 
the famous hunter, and yet we had many things in common, 
and what attracted me most was his unaffected manner and 
genuine honesty of thought and conduct. How well I 
remember his first visit to my little parsonage, his stories 
of travel and adventure told with such quiet and charac- 
teristic modesty, and our long talk on Spiritualism and 
kindred subjects. He was one of the best conversationalists 
I have ever met, he could listen as well as speak, he had 
kept up his reading all through his wanderings, and his 
lonely life in the African veldt had given him many oppor- 
tunities for keen and original reflection. 

" About the date to which I refer he was making pre- 
parations for leading the pioneers of the Chartered Company 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 371 

into Mashunaland, and he kindly invited me to accompany 
him, offering me the use of one of his own waggons. To my 
great regret I had to decUne, but the following year (1891) 
I was appointed to represent the Wesleyan Church in the 
new Colony, and by the end of September I found myself 
established in the small town of Salisbury. One of the first 
to give me a welcome was Fred Selous, who was then 
employed by the Government in making roads and helping 
to open out and settle the country. 

"It is impossible in these few lines to say very much 
about my friend, but by giving two or three simple incidents 
I may help the reader to see Selous as I saw him. His 
hatred of boasting and exaggeration was very marked. One 
day he called on me in Salisbury and asked me to go to his 
house, as he had something to show me. He had just re- 
turned from Hartley HiUs, and whilst there had shot his 
largest lion. How modestly he told the story, and with 
what interest I looked upon the skin of the huge beast 
(now mounted at Worplesdon). His humility was always 
as conspicuous as his bravery. Nor would he condone any 
false pretensions in others. He was once having breakfast 
in my waggon, and a gentleman who was outspanned near 
by asked me to introduce him to the great hunter. I did 
so, and immediately Selous began to ask him about certain 
incidents in a book he had published some time before. 
The replies, I could see, were not satisfactory and the 
subject was dropped. What amused me later was the 
surprise of the visitor that such a quiet and unassuming 
man should be the famous personage whose name was 
revered by every man who carried a gun. But such a 
person could not possibly understand Selous, who, neither 
in speech nor in print, would ever make a statement which 
he could not verify. His veracity was unimpeachable, and 
his ' Hunter's Wanderings ' was the favourite text-book 
of every amateur. His word could be taken for every 
trivial detail ; as I once heard an old hunter remark, ' What- 
ever Fred Selous says is absolute^ true.' This was not a 
cheap testimony in a country where the imagination so 
often colours the records of personal adventure. 



372 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

" He was never afraid to express his opinions, however 
unpopular they might be at the time. We were both in 
Bulawayo when word came from the south that Dr. Jameson 
had invaded the Transvaal with a few hundred men. An 
open-air meeting was held in the town, and Selous was one 
of the speakers. There was great excitement and we hardly 
knew what to believe. In the afternoon I rode out with 
him to his farm (Essexvale), about twenty miles from 
Bulawayo, and spent a few pleasant days in his home, but 
I remember how strongly he expressed his doubts as to 
the genuineness of the message of distress from Johannes- 
burg. ^Vhen I got back to town I heard of the capture of 
Jameson by Cronje, and later events proved that the doubts 
of my friend were amply justilied. 

" Selous was thought by some to have been rather 
critical as regards the work of the missionaries, but from 
various conversations I had with him I am convinced that 
his criticsms applied only to those whose methods were 
more idealistic than practical. Among his warmest friends 
were those devoted men who had toiled for years in Mata- 
beleland, and who had succeeded in raising the physical and 
moral status of the natives. Tliat he was always in sympathy 
with all good work was evident. Soon after going to 
Salisbury I was engaged in building a small church and the 
other denominations were also doing their best for the new 
community, all of us working together in the most friendly 
spirit. One day Selous said to me, with a touch of hesita- 
tion, ' By the way, Shimmin, I wish you would do me a 
favour. Would you give this small donation to Canon 
Balfour, of the Church of England, and this to Major 
Pascoe, of the Salvation Arm^^ and keep the other for your 
own building-fund. You are all doing good work, and I 
want to help you.' And he handed me three tive-pound 
notes. It was a good proof of his broad and liberal outlook 
and of his recognition of the practical benetits of the Christian 
Church. 

" This sketch is necessarily very brief and imperfect, and, 
as I write, my memory brings before me many scenes which 
arc associated with my old friend. I think of the fashionable 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 373 

crowd in the Imperial Institute, with the Duke of Fife in 
the chair, and Selous giving a lecture in his own inimitable 
style. I was very proud of him, but that evening, as I sat 
with Mrs. Selous and Miss Rhodes, I somehow felt that the 
speaker was closer to me than to any of that admiring 
audience, for he and I had been together in the African 
wilds. 

" And now he sleeps in the land he loved so well. At an 
age when most men would seek retirement and rest, he went 
forth to fight for justice and righteousness, and in that 
cause he made the supreme sacrifice of his life. Fred Selous 
was one of God's true and valiant gentlemen. 

' One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, 
Never doubted clouds would break, 
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, 
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
Sleep to wake.' 

" He lived the simple creed of sincerity and trust. Fearless 
for the right and dauntless in the face of danger, he won the 
hearts of men, and by the influence of his strong and genuine 
character he gave to us all a higher and purer conception of 
the inherent nobility of our common humanity. 

" Isaac Shimmin." 

Colonel Roosevelt, who knew Selous well and understood 
his character, kindly sends me the following note : — 

" There was never a more welcome guest at the White 
House than Selous. He spent several days there. One 
afternoon we went walking and rock climbing alongside 
the Potomac ; I think we swam the Potomac, but I am 
not sure. Another afternoon we rode, going over some of 
the jumps in Rock Creek Park, as well as those rail-fences 
that we were sure were not wired, in striking across country. 

" Wliat made Selous so charming a companion was his 
entire naturalness and lack of self -consciousness. There 
are persons who pride themselves on a kind of ingrowing 
modesty which forbids them to speak of anything they have 
themselves done, or else causes them to speak of it in such 
a bald fashion that they might as well keep silent. This 



374 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

really represents extreme self-consciousness, and it is only 
one degree less obnoxious than the self -consciousness which 
shows itself in boasting and bragging. Yet, rather curiously, 
the exhibition of this particular kind of morbid self-con- 
sciousness is a source of intense pride to many otherwise 
intelligent persons. 

" Selous was as free from this vice as from its opposite. 
He never boasted. He was transparently truthful. But it 
never occurred to him not to tell of his experiences, and he 
related them very simply but very vividly, and with the 
attention to minute details which marks the born observer 
and narrator. When my children were httle I had now and 
then read to them aloud some of the more exciting extracts 
from Selous' hunting adventures. At the time that he 
visited me at the White House they were older, and I got 
him to tell them two or three of the adventures himself. 
He made us actually see everything that had happened. 
He not only spoke simply and naturally, but he acted the 
part, first of himself, and then of the game, until the whole 
scene was vivid before our eyes. He would stand and bend 
forward, and then he would instantly identify himself with 
the lion or buffalo or elephant, and show what it did in its 
turn. 

" It was on this visit that he promised me that he would 
write out some of his observations on the Ufe histories of 
African big game. I felt that it would be a real misfortune 
if this record were not preserved in permanent form ; for 
Selous had the eye of a faunal naturalist of the highest type. 

" But our conversation was far from being confined to 
natural history and hunting. His reading had been done 
rather late in life, and only along certain lines, but he had 
the same unerring eye in history and literature that he had 
in the hunting-field. Naturally he liked what was simple 
and straightforward, and the old Scotch and Enghsh 
ballads appealed very strongly to him. His people had 
originally come from that last fragment of the old-time 
Norman Duchy, the Channel Islands ; and he was keenly 
interested in the extraordinary deeds of the Normans. 

" It was through Selous and Edward North Buxton that 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 375 

I made my arrangements for my African hunting-trip. 
Much to my delight, Selous went on the ship with us from 
Naples to Mombasa. He was, of course, a delightful 
travelling companion. He was very much interested in 
the way in which the naturalists who were with me did 
their collecting, being much impressed by the scientific 
efficiency they showed. Whenever possible I would get 
him talking about some of his past experiences ; and then 
gradually other acquaintances would stroll up and sit in 
an . absorbed circle, while he not only told but acted the 
story, his keen, simple, fearless blue eyes looking up at us 
from time to time, while his hands moved with a vivacity 
we are accustomed to think of as French rather than 
English. 

" After landing in Africa I saw him but once or twice. 
Of course my hunting was that of a tyro compared to his, 
and he took a kind of elder brother's interest in what I did 
and in my unimportant successes. 

" Later I spent a night with him at his house in Surrey, 
going through his museum of hunting-trophies. What 
interested me almost as much was being shown the various 
birds' nests in his garden. He also went to the British 
Museum with me to look into various matters, including 
the question of protective coloration. I greatly valued his 
friendship ; I mourn his loss ; and yet I feel that in death 
as in life he was to be envied. 

" It is well for any country to produce men of such a type ; 
and if there are enough of them the nation need fear no 
decadence. He led a singularly adventurous and fascinating 
life, with just the right alternations between the wilderness 
and civilization. He helped spread the borders of his 
people's land. He added much to the sum of human know- 
ledge and interest. He closed his Mfe exactly as such a life 
ought to be closed, by dying in battle for his country while 
rendering her valiant and effective service. Who could 
wish a better life or a better death, or desire to leave a more 
honourable heritage to his family and his nation ? 

" Theodore Roosevelt." 



376 THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 

The best work that Selous did and the qualities for which 
the British Nation should be grateful to him are those 
which he displayed as a Pioneer. Where Selous went any 
Englishman could follow and hold up his head. Selous set 
up a standard of conduct which people of our own, as well 
as those of other nations, might be proud to follow. He, as 
it were, stamped his personality on the wilderness, where 
life is hard and man easily loses his grip. He never shot a 
native except purely in self-defence, and estabhshed a 
reputation for square dealing and indomitable courage that 
made the pathway easy for all those who came after. He 
never made a sixpence for himself when gains, if he had 
been the least unscrupulous, would have been easy, but set 
up wherever he went a certain ideal, especially in deahng 
with natives, that made the road of colonization easy for 
tens of thousands. After all, in the life of any man it is 
character and example that count, and if Selous did nothing 
else, and had, in fact, never killed a single wild animal in 
his life, his name would still be one to conjure with in South 
Africa or wherever he wandered. 

" Summers shall be forgotten with the rose, 
Yea, winters fall from memory like quenched fire, 
Loves shall depart unseen, and the voice of desire 

Be hushed and stilled in the garden close, 
Yet you they shall remember in the land." 



INDEX 



Adahm, Sergt., 202 
Africa — early influences on F. C. 
Selous, 5, 13, 29, 51, 55, 62 et seq.; 
account of his first visit, 67 et seq.; 
second visit, 99-140 ; third visit, 
141-95 ; Selous depressed at 
financial situation (1884), 152 ; 
fourth visit, 208-224 
See also : Boers, Boer War, Ma- 
shunaland, Matabeleland, and 
Transvaal 
Africa, East — game laws and de- 
struction of game by settlers, 140 ; 
Sir A. Pease on lion hunting in, 
192 ; F. C. Selous' hunting trips, 
248 et seq., 272 et seq., 279 ; Mr. 
T. Roosevelt's trip, 267 et seq. 
Campaign against the Germans, 
301, 305 et seq.; Selous' ex- 
periences, 305, 316, 328, 340, 
342 ; Mr. Roosevelt's views, 
325 ; Capt. Haines' account, 
346 
" African Nature Notes and Rem- 
iniscences," 91, 184, 193, 261, 
chapters on protective colouring, 
262 et seq.; literary merit, 364 
Ai-eetsee-upee, 121 
Alpuina, Senhor Alfredo, 172 
America, North — Selous' hunting 
trips, 228 et seq., 245, 251 et seq., 

257 

American Museum of Natural His- 
tory — T. Roosevelt's collection, 
267 

Anderson, C. J., 65, 66 

Andrada, Col. d', 179 

Antelope, lechwe — movements and 
habits, 95 

Antelope, pookoo, 91 

Antelope, roan, 148 

Antelope, sable, 73, 91, 94 ; de- 
fensive powers, 156 

Antelope, sitatunga, 124 

Arctic and Antarctic expeditions — 
public support contrasted with 
support accorded to African and 
Asiatic expeditions, 194 



Armstrong, Mr. W. L., 180, 183 

Arnoldi, Major, 320 

Arnot, Mr., 141, 159 

Asia Minor— Selous' hunting trips, 

207 ; bird-nesting trips, 227, 247, 

259 

Babian, 217 

" Badminton Library " — " The 
Lion in South Africa," 184, 189 

Baillie, Mrs. Alexander, 125 

Baines, Thomas, 66 — 

Baker, Sir Samuel, 103, 265 

Balamoya, a Kafir, 85, 89 

Baldwin, William Charles, 65, 67, 
223 ; " African Hunting from 
Natal to the Zambesi," 65 

Banks, Mr. George, 156, 200 

Barber, Mrs. Frederick, 125 

Barotsi, 107 ; — Selous' troubles 
among during 1888, 160, 166 

Barttelot, Major, 134 

Batauwani, 198 

Batongas, 113; Selous' troubles 
among, during expedition of 1888, 
159, 167 

Beal, Col., 217 

Bechuanas, 68, 198 

Becker, Ferdinand, 241 

Beho-Beho ridge, engagement on 
the, 343 

" Beigh, Lowden " : see Leigh, Mr. 
Boughton 

Belton — F. C. Selous' school days 
at, 25 et seq. 

Bentley and Son, Richard, 13S 

Bettencourt, Capt., 182 

Bezedenhuits, the, 200 

Biles, H., 75 

Birds — F. C. Selous' early bird- 
nesting exploits, 17, 26, 34 et seq., 
37. 53 ; tiis contributions to 
Rugby Natural History Society, 
54 ; his later bird-nesting activi- 
ties, 227, 245, 247, 249, 257, 259, 
286, 288, 299 ; trip to Iceland, 
288 et seq. 

Bisset, Capt., 214 



377 



378 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



Blackstone, Mr., 35 et seq. 

Boers, 74, 126, 130 ; aggression 

against Zulus, 126 

Transvaal War (18S1), 1:^6 et seq. 

Transvaal War (1899-1901), 233 

et seq.; F. C. Selous' attitude, 

233 et seq. 

Boer officer's tribute to Mr. Selous, 
179 

Bosnia, 257 

Botletlie river, 121 

Bottomly, Sergt. -Major, 312 

Bournabat, 207 

Braddon, Miss, 12 

Bramwell, Baron, 6 

Brand, Capt., 213 

British South Africa Company — 
occupation of Mashunaland, 174 
et seq. ; Selous' services with, 176, 
186, 196 ; mismanagement of 
cattle question, 198, 208 ; first 
Matabele rising, 198 et seq.; second 
rising, 209 et seq.; Mr. Millais' 
criticisms, 219 

British Ornithologists' Club, 367 

British Ornithologists' Union, 227, 

367 
Brocklehurst, Sir Philip, 247, 248, 

250. 279. 358. 368 

Brocklehurst, Capt. Courtenay, 358 

Brown, Alec, 370 

Bruce, the Abyssinian explorer, 4, 10 

Bruces of Clackmannan, the, 3 

Bruce School, Tottenham, 12, 13 

Bryden, Mr. H. A., 189 

Buffaloes — dangers of hunting, 77, 
102 et seq.; Selous' experiences, 
92, 102, 105, 284 ; McLeod's 
escape on the Nata, 110; in- 
stances of tenacity of life and 
viciousness, no et seq.; speed, 
112 

Bukoba, British attack on, 305, 327 

Bulawayo, 135, 209, 212 ; defence 
during second Matabele rising, 
212 

Burlace, Mr., 258-9, 221 

Burchell, 65 

Barnett, Mr., 172 

Bushbuck, Angas's, 222 

Butler, Mr., 276 

Butler, Sir WiUiam, 234 

Butterflies, 59, 142 

Buxton, Edward North, 265, 269 
et seq., 374 

Campbell, Lieut., 181 

Canyemba, chief of Shakundas, 113 



Canada — F. C. Selous' hunting trips, 

245. 251, 257 
Cardinal, Louis, 252 
Caribou, 228 et seq., 245, 251. 255, 

257 
Carrington, Gen. Sir Frederick, 212, 

217 
Cetawayo, 126, 131 ; Zulu war (of 

1878), 126 ; Gen. Sir E. Hutton's 

account of his capture, 127 ; F. C. 

Selous' reminiscences, 128 
Chameluga, 199 

Chamois hunting in the Tyrol, 60 
Chanler, Willie, 226 
Channel Islands, 286 
Chapman, Mr. Abel, 249, 279, 285, 

295. 297, 300, 340, 368 
Charley (native interpreter), 159, 

161 et seq., i68 
Chartered Coy.: see British South 

Africa Coy. 
Chawner, Sergeant, 156, 200 
Chelmsford, Lord, 127 
Cheetahs, 265 
Chobe river, 92, 105, 107 
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 185 
Cigar, the Hottentot, 74, 78 
Civilization — T. Roosevelt's views 

on softening influences of urban 

developments, 243 
Clarkson, Mr., 115, 118; F. C. 

Selous' tribute, 123 
Cla,ry, Comte Justinien, 273 
Coghlan, Charles, 257 
Coillard, Mr. and Mrs., 170 
Colchester family, the, 57 
Colchester, Miss — reminiscences of 

F. C. Selous' life at Wiesbaden, 57 
Colchester, Mr. Charles, 58 et seq. 
Colchester, Edward, 153 
Colenbrander, Col. Johan — bio- 
graphical note, 212 ; organises 

native regiment for defence of 

Bulawayo, 212 
Colenso, Miss — " History of the 

Zulu War," 126 
Collison, H. C, 123, 133, 155, 370 
Colonists and pioneers — Roosevelt's 

views, 243 
Coloration, protective, 261 et seq. 
Colquhoun, Mr. A. R., 178, 180 
Congress of Field Sports (Vienna), 

Second, 273 
Coombe Abbey — F. C. Selous raids 

heronry at, 37, 53 
Cooper, Mr. Frank, 157 
Cormack, 255 
Coryndon, Mr., 155 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



379 



Courtney, Mr. W. L., 237 

Craven, Lord, 53 

Crawford, George, 245 

Cricket — F. C. Selous' love of, 358 

Crocodiles, 143 

Crook, Dr., 133 

Cross, Mr., 115, 118 

Cumming, Roualeyn Gordon, 65, 67 

Cuninghame, 103, 267 et seq. 

Cunliffe, Gen., 342 

Curtis, Col., 190 

Cycling — F. C. Selous' energy, 359 

Danford, Consul, 205, 233, 369 

Daniel (Hottentot waggon driver), 
159 

Darnell, Rev. Charles, 13, 25, 29 

Dartnell, Lieut., 320 

Dawson, Mr. James, 155 

Deer — Selous' hunting trips to 
North America, 228 et seq., 245, 
251 et seq., 257 (see also Ante- 
lopes, Reindeer, etc.) 

Delagoa Bay — Selous' trip in 1896, 
223 

Delamere, Lord, 192 

Delmar, Monsieur, 18 et seq. 

Dett valley, 84, 90 

Donovan, Capt., 200 

Dorehill, 68, 96-7, 99, 107, 146 

DrisooU, Col., 300 et seq.; on East 
African campaign, 338 ; on F. C. 
Selous, 345 

Drummond, 103, 223, 226 

Dunn, John, 127 et seq. 

Durnford, Col. — " History of the 
Zulu War," 126 

Durand, Ethel, 133 

Eagleson, Mr., 211 

Edgelow, Dr., 186 

Egerton of Tatton, Lord, 368 

Egerton, Hon. Maurice, 368 

Elani, a Somali, 284 

Elands, 147 

Elands, Giant, 275 

Elephants — F. C. Selous asks Lo- 
bengula's permission to hunt in 
Matabele country, 73 ; Fin- 
aughty's experiences, 76 ; Selous' 
early experiences, 78 et seq., 94 
et seq.; his observations on hunt- 
ing in hot weather, 95 ; dangers 
of hunting discussed, 102 ; Selous' 
trips to Zambesi ; disappointed 
at their disappearance, 107, 113 ; 
native drives, lojetseq.; Quabeet 
(Mr. Wood's servant) killed by. 



116; Selous' successful hunting 
on the Hanyane river, 115 et seq.; 
his narrow escape from a cow 
elephant, 117; narrow escapes 
in 1884 :I55 ; Selous kills his 
last, 186 ; his finest, 186 

Elstob, Mr., 73 

Emin Pasha relief expedition, 133 

Essexvale, 208 et seq. 

Evans, Lance-Corpl., 349 

Evans, Pte., 349 

Fairlie, W., 107 

Fashoda incident, 362 

Ferreira, 181 

Fife, Duke of, 373 

Finaughty, William, 75, 76, 102 ; 

Mr. Harrison's recollections, 76 
Flight, Dr. Walter, 53 
Football at Rugby, 31 
Forbes, Major, 179 
Forman, Antony, 142 
Foster, Mr., 211 
Fountaine, Mr. A. C, 157 
Franco-German War (1870) — F. C. 

Selous on German barbarities, 

60, 62 
Francis, Mr. C. K., 53 
French, Mr., 122; death of, 124, 364 
Frere, Sir Bartle, 138 
Freyer, Mr., 279 

Galton, Sir Francis, 65, 66 
Gambo (Lobengula's son-in-law), 

202 
Garden, Lieut., 91 
Geange, Joseph, 255 
Gemsbuck, 120, 121 
Gerard, Jules, 103, 189 
Germany — T. Roosevelt's letters to 

Selous on the war, 324, 327 
Giffard, J., 75 

Gifford, Col. the Hon. Maurice, 213 
Giraffes, 69, 91, 121 
Goats, wild, 207 
Gonyi, falls of, 170 
Goold- Adams, Col., 201 et seq. 
Goulden, Mr., 115, 118 
Graham, Bob, 229, 232 
Grant, Mr., 148 

Grandy, Lieut. (R.N.), 99 et seq. 
Greenhill-Gardyne, Col., 237 
Grey, Capt., 213 
Grey, Sir Edward, 273, 276 
Grey, George, 280 
Grimsey, Island of, 292 
Griqualand — F. C. Selous' first 

trading trip, 68 



38o 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



Grootboom, John, 216 
Guest, Major, 303 et seq. 
Guns and rifles, 67, 68, 87, 354 
Gwai river, 79 

Haines, Capt. R. M. — account of 
Selous' life in East African cam- 
paign, 346 
Hanyane river — successful elephant 

hunting trip (1878), 116 
Hargraves, Lieut., 309 
Harris, Capt. Cornwallis, 65 
Harrison, Mr. G. L. — recollections 

of Mr. Finaughty, 76 
Hartebeest, Liechtenstein's, 113, 

147. 155 
Hartley, the elephant hunter, 75 
Heany, Mr. Maurice, 208 
Helm, Mr., 208 
Heyman, Capt., 181 
Highland sport, 206 
Hill, Mr. Berkeley, 12, 29 
Hill, Clifford, 190, 191 
Hill, Harold D., 190, 191 
Hippopotami, 136 ; Lobengula's 

dispute with Selous over killing 

of, 151 
Hodges, Mrs. (Florence Selous ; 

" Locky "), 12, 56 
Hofmeyr, Jan, 235 
Hohnel, Von, 226 
Holgate, Mr. Wilham, 10 
Holgate of York, Archbp., 11 
Honey-buzzards, 58 
Horner, Mr., 99 et seq., 107 
Hoskins, Major-Gen. A. R., 342 
Hounds, wild, 265 
Howley, Mr., 255 
Hoyos, the three Counts, 369 
" Hunter's Wanderings in Africa, 

A" — extracts, 69, 79, 84, 92, 

95 et seq., 99, 105, 108 et seq., 117, 

122 ; publication, 139 
Hutton, Gen. Sir Edward — account 

of capture of Cetawayo, 127 
Hyenas — F. C. Selous on their 

cries, 71 

Iceland — F. C. Selous' bird-nesting 

trip, 288 
Impali river, 148 
- Indian troops — conduct in East 

African campaign, 321 
Inxnozan, 213 

Jacobs, Petrus, 75, 190 
Jackson, Sir Frederick, 103 
Jackson, Mr., 210, 213 



Jameson, Mr. J. A., 133, 157 
Jameson, Mr. James Sligo, 133, 136, 

153 ; biographical sketch, 133 
Jameson, Dr. L. S., 176, 201-2 
Jameson Raid, 210, 372 
Jenner, Corpl., 308 
Jennings family, 75 
Jersey, Selous' visit to, 2S6 
Johnson, Mr. Frank, 172 
Jollie, Mrs. Ethel Colquhoun — on 

settlers' prospects in Rhodesia, 

221 
Jones, Mrs. C. A. (Sybil Selous ; 

" Dei "), 12 
Jones, Mrs. R. F. (Ann Selous), 5, 

12 ; notes on early life of Selous 

family, 5 et seq.; illustrates " A 

Hunter's Wanderings in Africa," 

138 ; on F. C. Selous' character, 

361 
Juckes, Mrs. Frank — incident of 

F. C. Selous' school days, 13 
Judd, WiUiam, 77, 103, 190, 267 

et seq., 282, 324, 365 

Kennedy, J., 14 et seq., 31 

Keppel, a forester, 58 

Kerr, Walter Montague, 152 

Khama, chief, 120 et seq., 144, 198 

Kilimanjaro, operations round, 331 
et seq. 

Kingsley, Mr., 107 

Kirk, the explorer, 160 

Kitchener, Col., 309 

Kitchener, Lord, 301 

Kitchener, Mr., 39, 53 

Knight, Sergt., 349 

Knoch, Herr, 57 

Koodoos, 177 

Konze : see Hartebeest (Liechten- 
stein's), 113 

Kraut, Major, 341 

Labouchere, Mr., 185, 218, 221 
Laer, 141, 145, 148 et seq. 
Lagden, Sir Godfrey, 132 
Lamb, Mr. P. H., 348-9 
Lang, Mr. Arthur, 67 
Lanyon, Sir Owen, 132, 138 
Lange, Friedrich de, 142 
Leask, Mr. Thomas, 75, 143, 153, 

370 
Legge, Capt. the Hon. Gerald, 324 
Legion of Frontiersmen, 300 et seq. 
Leigh, Mr. Bough ton (" Lowden 

Beigh ") — F. C. Selous poaches 

on his estate, 41 et seq. 
Leitch, Major, 314 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



381 



Leopards, 103, 146, 147, 208 
" Leroux, John " — F. C. Selous' 
account of early adventures con- 
tributed to boys' magazine under 
pseudonym of, 13 e^ seq., 30 et seq. 
Lettow-Vorbeck, Col. von, 340 et 

seq., 350 
Leveson (" The Old Shikari "), 226 
Lewanika, 158, 169, 170, 369 
Liechtenstein, Prince Henry, 362 
Lions — F. C. Selous' first encounter 
with, 73 ; Piet Jacobs and, 75 ; 
Finaughty's view of dangers of 
hunting, 77 ; Selous shoots his 
first lion, 96 ; Selous' encounter 
. on Ramokwebani river with an 
old male lion, 99 ; adventure at 
Pelatse, loi ; dangers of hunting 
discussed, 102 etseq.; Selous kills 
a lioness near Gwenia, 119 ; ex- 
ploits during Kalahari trip (1879), 
121 et seq.; encounter on the 
Notwani river, 143 ; in Mashuna- 
land, 144 ; Laer's exploit, 149 ; 
Selous kills his third largest 
specimen, 149 ; adventure on 
return from Umliwan's kraal, 

183 ; number shot by Selous, 

184 ; kills his last, 186 ; Selous' 
position as a lion hunter, 189 ; 
leading hunters, 190 et seq.; 
custom of awarding lion to one 
drawing first blood, 192 et seq.; 
Selous greatest authority on, 193 
et seq.; T. Roosevelt's success in 
East Africa, 268 ; Selous' ex- 
periences in East Africa, 273, 282 
et seq.; Judd's account of ad- 
venture in Gwas N'yiro bush, 282 

Livingstone, David, 29, 51, 57, 66, 
75, 150. 160, 195 

Lobengula, King of the Matabele, 
55. 73. 79. 107, 115, 132, 154, 
172 ; incidents with Selous, 55, 
73. 79. 151. 175 ; and opening 
up of Mashunaland, 175 ; Mata- 
bele rising and flight, 197-204 ; 
and " UmUmo," 211 

Loch, Sir Henry, 175, 180 

Loch Buie, 206 

" Locky " : see Hodges, Mrs. 

" Lowden Beigh " : see Leigh, Mr. 
Boughton 

Lyell, Mr. Denis, 348 



MacColl, Scotch keeper, 206 
Macfarlane, Qapt., 214 



Maclaine of Lochbuie, the, 206 
MacMillan, Mr. W. N., 271, 279, 

326, 346, 368 
MacMillan river — F. C. Selous* 

hunting trips on, 251 et seq., 257 
Maddy, Miss Gladys : see Selous, 

Mrs. Frederick Courtenay^ 
Mainwaring, Capt., 217 
Makori-kori, 173 
Ma-kwayki, 151 

Mamele, chief of the Barotsi, 124 
Mamia — fighting between British 

and Portuguese, 180 et seq. 
Mandy, Frank, 69, 141 
Manyami region, 147, 157 
Mapondera. chief of Makori-kori, 

173 

Marchand, Col., 362 

Marancinyan, a Barotsi chief, 166 

Marter, Major, 127 

Mashukulumbwe — Selous attracted 
by country of, 120, 131 ; ex- 
periences in 1888 ; details of 
attack on his camp and his escape, 
160 et seq. 

Mashunaland — Selous' hunting ex- 
pedition in 1882-3, 144 ; Selous 
obtains mineral concessions from 
Mapondera and statement dis- 
owning Portuguese rule, 173 ; 
British occupation, 173 et seq.', 
construction of the road, 176 et 
seq.; Selous arranges treaties with 
native chiefs, 179 ; progress in 
opening up, 1 84 ; Matabele rising 
(1893), 197 et seq.; second rising, 
209-18 ; Selous' views as to 
future of the country, 218 ; 
extract from report of Mashuna- 
land Agency (1917), 219 

Mashuna tribe — almost destroyed 
by Matabele, 199 

Massi-Kessi, 181 

Matabeleland — elephant hunting, 
73 et seq., 144, 157 ; concessions 
to British South Africa Coy., 175 ; 
rising of 1893, 197 et seq.; Selous 
returns to manage land and 
gold company at Essexvale, 208 ; 
second rising, 209 et seq.; Selous' 
views as to future, 218 
Mashunaland, occupation of : 
see Mashunaland 
Matzchie, 262 
Maxwell, Mrs., 12 
Maziwa, chief, 172 
Mazoe river — gold-prospecting ex- 
pedition, 172 



382 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



McKinley, President, 241 

McLeod of McLeod, 107 ; account 

of Sepopo's elephant drives, 107 ; 

escape from a buffalo on the 

Nata, no; on native common 

sense, 129 
Meinertzhagen, Col. R. — notes on 

East African campaign, 304, 306, 

309, 325. 350 

Mellis, Capt., 190 

Mendonca, chief of Shakundas, 113 

Mendose, a Kafir, 83 

Miles, Lieut., 312 

Millais, Capt. G. de C, 323 

Miller, Mr., 107, 120, 124, 125, 136 

Minenga, a Batonga chief, 161 

Minyama, 73, in 

Missionaries — F. C. Selous and, 372 

Mitchell, Mr., 200 

Moncrieff, W., 229 

Monzi, a Batonga chief, 160, 166 

Moose, 228 et seq., 245, 252, 255, 
257-8 

Morley, Mr. John, 239 

Morier, Lieut., 181 

Morkel, Mr. A. R. — tribute to 
Selous, 196 

Morris, 141 

Motoko, chief, 179, 180 

Mouflon, 207, 248 

Mount Darwin, 173 

Mucklow, Private, 314 

Mule-deer, 229, 232 

Mull, Isle of — seal and otter hunt- 
ing, 206 

Mundy, Corpl., 202 

Mwemba, chief of the Batongas, 

"3. 159 
Mzilikatse, 76 

Napier, Col., 217 

Natives — Selous on arm-chair critics 
of colonists, 10 1 ; reasoning 
powers and common sense, 129 ; 
obeisance before Lewanika in 
front of strangers, 1 70 ; and 
tunnels, 369 

Nelson, Lord, 7 

Neros, the, 115 

Neuchatel — the Institution Roulet, 

55 

Neumann, Mr. Arthur, 102 ; bio- 
graphical note, 260 ; Selous on, 

259 

Newfoundland — F. C. Selous' hunt- 
ing trips, 245. 255 

Niekerk, Capt. van, 213, 214 

Niemand, Berns, 143 



Noble, Mr. Heatley, 289, 316, 368 ; 
notes of trip to Iceland with F. C. 
Selous, 289 

Normandy — F. C. Selous' visit ; 
correspondence with T. Roose- 
velt, 286 

Northey, Gen., 341 

Norway — hunting in, 233 ; F. C. 
Selous' trip, 260 

Nottman, Scotch keeper, 206 

Nuta, a Kafir, 85 et seq. 

Nyala, 222 et seq. 

Nyemyezi, 202 

Oberlander, Phil, 276 
Osgood, Prof., 251, 253 
Oswell, William Cotton, 65, 66 
Otter hunting, 206 
Owen, Mr., i\2 et seq. 

Page, Gertrude, 220 

Paget, Col., 190 

Paul (a Zulu), 159, 161 et seq., 16S 

Pease, Sir Alfred, 191, 193, 268 et 
seq.; 355 ; notes on hunting and 
hunters, 191 ; and President 
Roosevelt's trip to E. Africa, 268 
et seq. ; on Selous, 355 

Pennefather, Col., 178 

Percival, Mr. A. B., 190 

Phillips, Mr. G. A., 370 

Pike, Mr. Warburton, 274 

Pilton Range manor house — bird- 
nesting at, 34 

Plumer, Sir Herbert, 217 

Pond, Major, 197 

Portuguese — claims to Mashuna- 
land, 173 ; fighting in Manica, 
180-3 

Poulton, Prof., 262, 264 

Protective coloration, 261 et seq. 

Quabeet (Mr. Wood's Kafir servant) 
— killed by an elephant, 116 

Radclyfife, Capt. C. E., 367 

Rainey, Paul, 192 

Ramaqueban river, 73 

Red deer, long-faced, 207 

Reed-rat, 170 

Regent's Park ice disaster (1867), 45 

Reindeer — ^hunting trip in Norway, 

260 
Rhine — F. C. Selous swims river to 

retrieve wild duck, 57 
Rhinoceroses, 103 
Rhinoceroses, white, 154 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



383 



Rhodes, Cecil, 174-5, 195, 217, 241; 
and the occupation of Mashuna- 
land, 174 et seq.; Selous' tribute, 
174 ; Lobengula and, 175 ; his 
exploitation of Selous, 195 ; T. 
Roosevelt and, 241 

Rhodesia — Rhodes' tribute to 
Selous, 196 
See also : Mashunaland ; Selous' 
views on its future, 2 1 8 ; Author 
on colonists' difficulties, 219 

Rider Haggard, Mr. H., 236 

Rinderpest, 183, 209, 213 

Rochhart, Herr, 59 

Rooyen, Cornells van, 156 

Roosevelt, Theodore — correspond- 
ence with Selous : on family ties 
and the wandering instinct, 225 e^ 
seq.; on Selous' hunting trip in 
America, 230 ; ranching, 231 ; on 
America and Hungary as deer- 
hunting countries, 233 ; on the 
Boer War, 240 et seq.; on Selous' 
" African Nature Notes and Rem- 
iniscences," 261, 264 ; reply to 
Selous on the attempt on his 
(Roosevelt's) life, 265 ; on his 
own hunting trip to East Africa, 
267 et seq.; on Selous' misgivings 
as to his age and African hunt- 
ing, 279 ; on Normandy and 
Normans, 286 ; on Germany and 
the war, 324 ; tribute to Selous, 
373 
East African hunting tour, 267 
et seq. 

Roosevelt, Kermit, 267, 280 et seq., 
325. 327 

Rothschild, Lord, 275 

Royal Fusiliers, 25th, 304, 306 et 
seq., 342-3 

Royal Geographical Society, 158, 
173. 194 

Rugby School — F. C. Selous' career 
at, 29 et seq.; football at, 31 ; 
" house-washing," 32 ; his poach- 
ing and bird-nesting exploits, 
34 et seq.; Canon Wilson's re- 
miniscences, 50 et seq.; F. C. 
Selous lectures at, 297 

Rungius, Carl, 251, 253 

Ruthven (Mr. Jameson's servant), 
136 

Sadlier, Mr., 68, 74 

St. Hubert, Society of, 9 

Salisbury, Lord, 173 



Salzburg, 59 

Sardinia — F. C. Selous' trip after 
mouflon, 248 

Saunders, Robert, 245 

Saunderson, Capt. and Mrs., 270 

Schwarz, Piet, 75 

Science — British official neglect of, 
194 

Seal hunting, 206 

Secheli, 68-9 

Sell, a colonist, 121, 125 

Selous family — origins, 2 

Selous, Mr. Angiolo, 3, 5, 6, 11 

Selous, Ann : see Jones, Mrs. R. F. 

Selous, Mr. Edmund, 3, 12 ; notes 
on parents and uncles, 3 

Selous, Florence : see Hodges, Mrs. 

Selous, Frederick Courtenay — 
origins of family, i et seq.; birth, 
12 ; education and school days, 
12-55 ; experiences at Bruce 
School, Tottenham, \2 et seq.; at 
Rev. C. Darnell's School, Belton, 
25 et seq.; at Rugby, 29-55 ', 
incident with labourer at Pilton 
Range manor house, 35 ; raids 
heronry at Coombe Abbey, 37, 
53 ; incident with Mr. Boughton 
Leigh's keeper, 41 ei seq.; experi- 
ence in Regent's Park ice disas- 
ter (1867), 45 ; Canon Wilson's 
reminiscences of him at Rugby, 
50 et seq.; studies medicine on the 
Continent, 55 et seq.; at Institu- 
tion Roidet, Neuchatel, 55 ; at 
Wiesbaden, 56 ; swims Rhine to 
retrieve wild duck, 57 ; rescues 
Miss Colchester in ice accident, 
57 ; incident with German forest 
keeper, 58 ; visits Salzburg in 
Austria, 59 ; visit to Vienna, 63 ; 
attends medical classes at Uni- 
versity College Hospital (London), 
64 ; influence of literature of big- 
game hunting, 65 ; first visit to 
Africa, 67 et seq.; visits Diamond 
Fields and Griqualand, 67-8 ; 
meets Mr. William Williams, 68 ; 
visits Secheli's kraals, 69 ; gun- 
powder mishap, 69 ; lost in the 
bush for four days and three 
nights, 69 ; first encounter with 
lions, 73 ; incident with^Lflben- . 
gula over request to hunt ele- 
phants, 73 ; first elephant-hunt- 
ing experiences, 78 et seq., 94 et 
seq.; second incident vnth Loben- 1 
gula, 79 ; narrow escape from^an ' 



384 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



elephant, 84 et seq.; return to 
Bulawayo, 90 ; expedition to 
Zambesi and Chobe rivers, gi el 
seq.; encounter with fierce buffalo 
cow, 92 ; shoots his first Hon, 96 ; 
decides to return home, 98 ; re- 
turns to South Africa (1876), 99 ; 
hunting trips on Tati, Shashi, 
and Ramokwebani rivers, 99 ; 
encounter with old male lion, 99 ; 
meets George Westbeech, loi ; 
adventure with lions at Pelatse, 
loi ; views of relative danger of 
hunting different lands of big 
game, 102 et seq.; escapes from 
buffaloes, 105 et seq., 108 ; trip 
to Zambesi (1877), 107 ; disap- 
pointment with his prospects, 
112, 114 ; trip down the Zambesi 
with Mr. Owen, 112 et seq.; ill- 
health, 114; hunting trip in 
Mashuna country, 115 et seq.; 
meets Jan Viljoen, 115 ; success- 
ful elephant hunting on Hanyane 
river, 116 et seq.; narrow escape 
from cow elephant, 117 ; kills a 
lioness near Gwenia, 119; trip 
through the Kalahari (1879), 120 
et seq.; attacked by low fever at 
Diamond Fields, 125 ; reminis- 
cences of Cetawayo, 128 ; and 
the Zulu War, 130 ; hunting trip 
in Mashuna country, 133, 135 ; 
and the Transvaal War (1881), 
136; returns to England, 137; 
arrives in South Africa, 141 ; 
treks northward, 141 ; encounter 
with lioness, 143 ; trip to Mash- 
unaland and Matabeleland, 144 ; 
encounters with lions, 144, 149 ; 
I dispute with Lobengula over 
I killing of hippopotami, 151 ; de- 
pressed at state of finances, 152 ; 
successful elephant hunting, 155 ; 
trip to Mashunaland with J. A. 
Jameson, Fountaine, and Cooper, 
157 et seq.; accidents, 157-8 ; 
trip beyond Zambesi, 158 ; trouble 
with Barongas, Barotsi, and 
Mashukulumbwe, 159-69 ; visit 
to Lewanika, 169;! guides gold 
lexpedition to Mazoe river, 172 ; 
(secures concessions from Mapon- 
Idera, 173 ; stormy interview with 
[Portuguese governor at Tete, 173; 
^and the' occupation of Mashuna- 
land, 173 et seq.; Selous' road 
through Mashunaland, 174-81 



guides pioneer expedition, 175 
et seq.; visits Lobengula, 175 ;f 
negotiates treaties with Mashunal 
chiefs, 179 ; conducts stores to\: 
British garrison at Manica during | 
trouble with Portuguese, 181 ; 
encounter with lions near Um- 
liwan's kraal, 183 ; terminatesl 
engagement with British South] 
Africa Coy., 186 ; kills his 
finest lion, 186 ; his place as a 
lion hunter discussed, 189 ; his 
exploitation by Cecil Rhodes, 
195 ; engagement to Miss Gladys 
Maddy, 197 ; part in the first 
Matabele rising, 197-204 ; 
wounded, 202 ; returns to Eng- 
land, 204 ; marriage and honey- 
moon, 205 ; purchases house at 
Worplesdon, 205 ; visit to Scot- 
land, 206 ; visit to Asia Minor, 207 ; 
goes to Essexvale, Matabeleland, 
to manage estate, 208 ; work dur- 
ing second Matabele rising, 209 et 
seq.; escape from Matabele after 
horse had bolted, 214 ; criticised 
by Truth in connexion with 
Bulawayo Field Force, 221 ; 
trip to Delagoa Bay, 222 ; return 
to England, 224 ; visit to Asia 
Minor, 227 ; visit to Wyoming, 
229 ; visits Wiesbaden and Hun- 
gary, 233 ; attitude towards 
Boer War, 233-245 ; bird-nesting 
trip to Hungary, 245 ; trips to 
Canada and Newfoundland, 245 ; 
trip to Asia Minor, 247 ; to 
Sardinia, 248 ; first trip to 
British East Africa, 248 ; 
trip to the Yukon, 251 ; third 
trip to Newfoundland, 255 ; visit 
to Bosnia, 257 ; second trip to 
Yukon territory, 257 ; bird- 
nesting trip to Asia Minor, 259 ; 
reindeer hunting in Norway, 260 ; 
advice to Mr. Roosevelt as toj 
East African hunting trip, 267 ;• 
trip to East Africa with W. N. 
MacMillan, 272 ; represents Eng- 
land at Congress of Field Sports, 
Vienna, 273 ; trip to Sudan after 
Giant Eland, 275 ; ill-health and 
operation, 279 ; second trip to 
East Africa with MacMillan, 279 ; 
incident with lion in Gwas N'yiro 
bush, 282 ; kills his last buffalo, 
284 ; trip to Jei-sey and Nor- 
mandy, 28C ; visit to Iceland 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



385 



with Heatley Noble, 289 ; lectures 
at Rugby, 297 ; anxiety to serve 
during the Great War, 299 et 
seq. ; serves as special constable 
at Pirbright, 301 ; service in 
East Africa, 304-50 ; experi- 
ences during attack on Bukoba, 
305 ; invalided, undergoes opera- 
tion in England, and returns to 
East Africa, 338 ; killed in action 
at Beho-Beho, 344 ; Capt. R. M. 
Haines' account of his hfe in 
East Africa, 346 ; grave, 349 
Letters — to his mother : while 
at Rugby, 29 ; on his medical 
studies at Neuchatel, 55 ; on 
butterfly catching at Salz- 
burg, 59 ; on Franco-German 
War and German barbarities, 
60, 62 ; expressing disappoint- 
ment with prospects, 11 2-1 5, 
152 ; death of Mr. Wood's 
servant Quabeet, 116 ; Zulu 
War, 130 ; occupation of 
Mashunaland, 174, 177, 179 ; 
^engagement with Portuguese 
vat Massi-Kessi, 181 ; develop- 
ment of Mashunaland, 184 ; 
— to his sister " Locky " : 
on his future career, 56 ; — 
to his wife : on first Matabele 
rising, 201 ; East African 
campaign, 342 ; — to Abel 
Chapman, 249, 285, 295, 296, 
300, 340 ; — to W. L. Courtney 
on Boer War, 237 ; — to J. G. 
Millais : on American hunt- 
ing trip, 232 ; Boer War, 235 ; 
Newfoundland hunting trips, 
247, 255 ; bird-nesting trips, 
249 ; Yukon trips, 253, 258 ; 
A. Neumann, 259 ; East 
African trips, 272, 383 ; 
Vienna exhibition, 274 ; Su- 
danese trip, 275 ; East 
African campaign, 319, 328, 
331 ; — to Mrs. Millais : on 
his prospects of acceptance 
for war service, 303 ; — to 
Heatley Noble on East African 
campaign, 316 ; — to Sir A. 
Pease on Roosevelt's trip, 
269 ; — to The Speaker on 
Boer War, 239 ; — to The 
I Times : on the occupation of 
(Mashunaland, 175; on the 
Boer War 234, 237 
Appearance, 359 



Bird-nesting activities see 
Birds 

Character, 2, 352 \ 

Elephant hunting :'J;j, see Ele- 
phants 

Family and home life, 224 et 
seq.; 368 

Lion hunting : see Lions 

Literary preferences, 366 

Modesty, 361 

Observation, accuracy of, 52, 
264 

Poaching adventures, 26, 34, 

37. 41. 58 
Restlessness, spirit of, 365 
Senses, acuteness of, 51 
Shooting powers, 353, 356 
TelUng stories, capacity for, -360 
Tributes, 196. 344-5, 348, 355, 
373 
Selous, Mrs. Frederick Courtenay 

{nee Miss [Gladys] Maddy), 197 ; 

accompanies Selous to Essexvale, 

Matabeleland, 208 ; Y.M.C.A. 

work at Havre, 304 
Selous, Mr. Frederick Lokes (father 

to F. C. Selous), 3 ; note by Mr. 

Edmund Selous, 3 ; note by Mrs. 

R. F. Jones (daughter), 5 ; 

reminiscences, 7 et seq. 
Selous, Mrs. Frederick Lokes 

(mother to F. C. Selous) , 3 ; note 

by Mr. Edmund Selous, 3 ; note 

by Mrs. Jones (daughter), 10 ; 

death, 285 
Selous, Captain Fred (son), 297, 

323. 331. 336 
Selous, Gideon, 2, 12 
Selous, H. C. (uncle to F. C. Selous), 

3, 5, 6, 7, 12 
Selous, Harold (son), 298 
Selous, Sybil : see Jones, Mrs. C. A. 
Selous Road, 174-9 
" Selous Syndicate," 174 
Sepopo, chief of Barotsi, loi, 107, 

130 ; elephant drives, 107 
Shakundas, 113 
Shamedza, 160 

Shampondo, Batonga chief, 159 
Shangans, 199 

Sheldon, Mr. Charles, 252, 254, 263 
Sheppard, Gen., 330, 334 
Shepstone, Sir T., 137 et seq. 
Sherborn, Ann : see Selous, Mrs. 

Frederick Lokes 
Shimmin, Rev. Isaac — note on 

F. C. Selous, 369 
Shikari Club, 367 



386 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



Shoma, a Batonga chief, 167 

Shiras, 263 

Sikabenga, a Barotsi chief, 160, 166, 

i6g, 199 
Sinoia, caves of, 157 
Situngweesa, 199 
Sitanda, chief of Manicas, 113 
Skinner, Peter, 69 
Slatin Pasha, 362 
Smart, Samuel, 255 
Smuts, Gen. J., 328 et seq., 342 ; 

account of fighting at Beho- 

Beho, 344 ; on difficulties of E. 

African campaign, 350 
Smyrna, 227, 247 
" Snake-stone," 142 
Somaliland — lion hunting, 192 
South African Conciliation Com- 
mittee — F. C. Selous' letter to, 

237 et seq. 
Speaker, The — F. C. Selous' letter 

on the Boer War, 239 
Spiritualism, 153, 370 
Spreckley, Col., 218 
Staden, Roelef van, 200, 237 
Stanier, Sir Beville, 247 
Stanley, H. M., 133 
Steele, General Sir Thomas, 66 
" Stempel, Dr.", 34, 43 
Stewart, Gen., 309, 334 
Stigand, Capt., 103, 263-4 
Stirling, Major, 249 
Stonham, Col., 239 
Stockley, Cynthia, 220 
Stroud, a guide, 245 
Sudan — F. C. Selous' trip after 

giant elands, 275 
" Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia," 

217, 221 et seq., 224 
Suni, Livingstone's, 223 
Swartz, Martinus, 122 
Swartz, Paul, 192 
Swazis — boundary dispute with 

Zulus, 126 
Swythamley, 247, 248, 279 

Tarlton, Mr., 103, 325 

Taveta, engagement near, 330 

Taylor, Pte., 349 

Tchangani river — Lobengula's forces 

defeated (1893), 202 
Tea — F. C. Selous' preference for, 

294. 347. 352 
Tennant, H. J., 301 et seq. 
Texel Island, 299 
Thayer, 264 

Thomas, Mr., a miner, 172 
Thomas, David, 160 



Thomas, Reuben, 67 

Thomas, Roderick, 257 

Thornton, Lieut. Edward — account 

of death of Captain Fred Selous, 

297 
Tighe, Gen., 304 
T4jnes, The — Selous' letters to : 

on the occupation of Mashuna- 

land, 175 ; on the Boer War 

(1899-1901), 234, 237 
History of the War quoted, 342 
et seq. 
Tippu-Tib, 134 
" Tombe Abbey " — F. C. Selous 

raids heronry at, 37, 53 
Transvaal — Boer agression against 

Zulus, 126; Boer War (1881), 

136 et seq.; Boer War (1899- 

igoi), 234 et seq. 
" Travel and Adventure in South- 

East Africa," 146, 150 et seq., 

164, 166 et seq., 183, 222 
Trimen, Mr., 142 
Tritton, Mr. Claude, 271 
Truth — attacks on the Chartered 

Company, 221 
Tweedie, Capt., 278 
Tyrrel, Mr., 253 

Ubandini, the Swazi king, 129 
Umbilini, a Swazi chieftain, 127 
" UmUmo," or god of the Makalakas, 

210 
Umlugula, a Matabele chief, 210 
Umsheti, 217 

Umtasa, chief of Manica, 178 
United States — official support of 
science, 194 et seq.; Selous' 
lecturing tour cancelled, 197 ; 
hunting trips, 228 et seq.; cam- 
paigns against Mexico compared 
to Boer War by T. Roosevelt, 
242 ; and the Great War, 325 
Ranching — T. Roosevelt's letter 
to F. C. Selous, 231 
Usher, Mr., 210 

Vanderbyl, Capt., P. B., 260, 367 
Van Deventer, Gen., 332, 334, 336 
Vardon, the hunter, 66 
Vienna, 63 ; second international 

congress of field sports, 273 
Viljoen, Jan, 74, 75, 115, 118 

Wahle, Gen., 341 

Wallace, Mr. H. F., 262, 355 

Wankie, 96 

Wapiti, 228 et seq., 232 



THE LIFE OF F. C. SELOUS 



387 



War, the Great, 299 et scq.; T. 

Roosevelt's views, 324 
Ward, Herbert, 135 
Ward, Mr. Rowland, 222 
Wart-hogs, 147 
Watmough, Mr. W., 348 
Webb, Major, 309, 312 e< seq. 
Wells, John, 246 

Westbeech, George, loi, 159, 166 
Weyand, Karl, 148 
White, Capt., 312 
White, Mr. Montague, 241 
Whittall, Sir William, 205, 369 
Wiesbaden, 56, 233 
Wilson, Major, 203 
Wilson, Mr. J. M. (afterwards Canon 

Wilson) , 29 ; reminiscences of 

F. C. Selous at Rugby, 50 et seq. 
WilUams, Mr., 273 
WilUams, Capt., 321 
WiUiams, Bryan, 277 
Williams, Mr. WiUiam, 68 
Williams, Sir Ralph — tribute to 

F. C. Selous, 55 



Windley, Capt., 214 

Wingate, Sir F., 276 

Wissels, Mr., 223 

Wolf, the Artist, 66 

Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 127, 129, 138 

Wolverton, Lord, 190 

Wolves, 258 

Wood, George, 75, 79, 90 et seq., 

no, 112, 115, 118 
Worplesdon, 60, 205 

X, Col., 226 

Yellowstone Park — P. Oberlander 
and the game wardens, 277 

Yukon territory — F. C. Selous' 
hunting trips, 251 et seq. 

Zambesi river — Selous' hunting 

trips, 107, 146, 169, 183 
Zambesi, falls of, 91 
Zulu War, 1 25 et seq. 
Zumbo, 146 
Zwecker, 67 



I'KINTKD BY 

WI1.L?AM HRENDON AND SON, LTD. 

PLYJIOUTH, ENGLAND 



